


Sollux: Manipulate Doom

by MelodramaticMrTails



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physical Abuse, Red Romance, Revenge, Tentabulges, Xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-05-13
Packaged: 2017-12-09 04:35:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticMrTails/pseuds/MelodramaticMrTails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat's new stepmother is slowly breaking him down. He escapes through Sollux, but his family is so much bigger than he knows and they don't like people messing with him. Fixing Karkat is a whole other story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sollux: Confess

**Author's Note:**

> Characters include: everyone. Not going to tag everyone because have you read Homestuck. That's a lot of people. Smashcooper63 on tumblr requested Karkat being abused and either Dave or Sollux fixing him. Things sort of got out of hand like usual. Still not sure how long this is going to be. As usual, requests are taken at my tumblr themadkingsendshismilk.

He sits on your floor. He doesn’t want you to touch him yet. You don’t want to fight. He’ll let you know when he’s ready to be treated as he usually does. Once in a blue moon, he won’t, he’ll just leave and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, but you can hope that today isn’t one of those days. You know too well that he doesn’t want you to look at him either, so you don’t. Instead, you stare at your husktop with the same amount of dedication you usually give it. You have no idea what you’re looking at since you’ve been aimlessly scrolling through code without actually paying attention to it.

Your name is SOLLUX CAPTOR and your good friend has a new step mother. For the life of you, you don’t understand her at all. From what you know, and jegus you know way more than you’d actually like to, she’s a sea dweller, violet if you remember correctly, and she really fucking hates land dwellers. The lower on the hemo, the worse. Which, you know, is a huge confliction when the Vantas’ are so low on the fucking hemospectrum they’re mutated. You could see if there was money involved, but the Vantas are not a wealthy family. Karkat still has to wear hand-me-downs on occasion. Nor is there any kind of fame involved as you know for a fact Mr. Vantas stays as far away from that stuff as possible.

If you had to guess, you’d say she was actually in love with Mr. Vantas. Then you’d have to say bullshit, she’s getting something out of this you just don’t know what. Not that it matters. It all boils down to the same thing; she fucking hates Karkat. Supposedly Kankri is fairing better, but you’ve also heard rumors that he’s been house jumping between his friends. Of course, people hating Karkat isn't unusual in the least. Karkat is not a very likable person. In fact, outside of his ring of friends and family of friends, you’re pretty sure everyone is slightly terrified of him. Whether this is due to his voice or due to the fact that what few friends he makes are kind of out of their minds, you’re not entirely sure.

No, the part Karkat isn’t used to is the violence. You’re not sure Karkat’s ever been physically attacked before which is sort of like a huge surprise with the mouth he has on him. He never really understands what to do after she’s done something to him. What she does varies dramatically in severity. Sometimes it’s just a hit and sometimes you have to take Karkat to the hospital. Regardless of what she does, he always ends up on your floor.

You’re not entirely sure how he keeps getting into your house, or past your dad for that matter, but you don’t really mind. You’re pretty sure you told him a long time ago, years ago even, that he could come and go as he pleased and you’re not going to take it back now, but you’re really curious.

The worst part is, Mr. Vantas _knows_  about it. You always thought he was a pretty cool guy. Weird, of course, but come on, even your family is fucking weird. Your dad wears a fucking swim cap ninety percent of the time and your brother hit his head one too many times. Now, though, you’re starting to hate him. How could he let a, by all accounts, stranger do that to his son?

You don’t know what to do either. You know what you should do. You should tell your dad and go over to his house and watch him kick her ass. Then maybe Mr. Vantas if he doesn’t get his shit together. You can’t do this. That’s a lie. You could totally do this and on some of the more severe cases, you’ve seriously thought about it, but if you do, Karkat will probably never talk to you again. You’re still debating whether or not it would be worth it to see him back to normal again.

For now, though, all you can do is patch him up when he needs it. Take him to the hospital when it’s bad. Share your recuperacoon when he doesn’t want to go home. Tell them you have no idea where he is when he’s hiding. Lie when he needs to you; both to him and other people. One day when he tells you he’s had enough, or he winds up dead, necks will be broken.

Or you'll elope.

Whichever.

Or both. Both is good.

Karkat touches your arm slightly and you glance up at him calmly. You guess it’s not as bad today. One of his eyes is kind of swelling and he has a cut clean down the middle of his lip that immediately cuts diagonally over his sharp chin. It’s dripping that bright red blood of his all over the place and it’s deep as fuck, but he’s a troll. Trolls are tough. Karkat’s tough. You can see bone.

“2hould take you to the ho2piital, KK,” you murmur, turning your chair slightly. He stands between your knees, blood dripping onto your pants. You hate it.

“NO,” he snaps back. “JUST FIX IT OR I’LL GO SEE GAMZEE OR SOMETHING.” You snort.

“He’d probably make it wor2e,” you remind him. Karkat doesn’t argue. “Ii have to go get the kiit from Miituna’2 room,” you explain distantly. He nods. You don’t want to leave him alone. He’s safe here, of course, but that doesn’t make you feel any better. You stand and for a moment, you’re close enough to him to make an intimate moment. He backs away.

You fetch the first aid from your brother’s room. Mituna stares at you the entire time, but you don’t look at him and he doesn’t say anything to you. You’re pretty sure he knows, if not just through Kankri. Kankri stays here occasionally. You hate him. He’s never injured.

Karkat’s sitting in your chair when you return, looking over whatever stupid code you had been working on. You haven’t been focusing lately. Only part of your brain is functioning for anything useful at any given time. The rest of it is worried and mad and confused and possibly in love and confused about possibly being in love and angry for knowing it’s stupid.

“Move a22hole,” you motion him out of the chair. Karkat complies. Sometimes you hate Karkat. Sometimes when he’s Karkat, but usually when he’s not. You hate him when he’s that nervous, quiet wreck she’s turned him into. You hate him when he think you’re going to hit him and you hate him when he’s legitimately concerned that you hate him. You hate when you don’t know him.

“2iit,” you mumble, plopping back into your chair. He kneels between your legs and you can see his teeth even more than usual. “2top pokiing at iit wiith your tongue, 2tupiid,” you grumble.

“SHUT UP. IT FEELS WEIRD,” he puffs back at you, hoisting himself up slightly to lean his elbows on your thighs. He’s uncomfortably close to your bulge right now. He turns his head down to rest on his arm and display the cut to you. He’s calm and it’s so fucking wrong right now. He should be hissing and spitting at everyone and everything. Karkat prods at the cut again while you thread up a needle.

“2eriiou2ly, KK, knock that 2hiit off, you’re goiing to make iit wor2e.” You scold him a little too loud and he flinches. He’s broken. You hate him for it. You hate yourself for not knowing how to fix him. You don’t apologise. It wouldn’t matter anyways.

You’re too familiar with tending to wounds at this point. You press a bit of cloth against the spot and Karkat holds still. Fortunately, the bleeding has already stopped for the most part. Then you dab it with a bit of alcohol and antibiotic. You assess the damage first. There’s no way you’re going to get away without stitching it up. You should really take him to the hospital. Now that he’s refused, there’s no way you’re going to convince him otherwise.

So you stitch it up. Karkat winces occasionally, but you’re sure his face has already gone numb otherwise he wouldn’t let you touch him. His threshold for pain is ridiculous and his tolerance is nearly non existent. You have no idea if this is because of his mutation or personal nature. It probably doesn’t matter, as long as he isn’t in any pain. You’d only be able to do this half the time if he was in pain.

He lets out a puff of discomfort when you reach his lip and you have to forcibly hold his teeth apart to make sure he doesn’t snag the thread on them. You know he’s going to eventually. You’ll have to cover it with something. Karkat is getting impatient and antsy and his face is blushed that creepy red colour that you not so secretly love so much. You knot up the end and place a small bandage over the stitching on his lip so he won’t rip it out with his oversized teeth. You pat him on the cheek.

“Keep your tongue iin your mouth and leave iit alone,” you remind him. Karkat glares at you. He remains in your lap for a few more second, touching the bandage with his finger lightly. He shoves himself upwards suddenly, putting pressure on your knees and tilting your lithe frame forward just slightly.

“THANKS,” he says reluctantly. You don’t think he actually needs your help to clean his wounds. He just needs the company. You think anyways. The two of you don’t actually talk about it. Your bros, but not moirails. Feelings are for humans.

“Dad made 2ome grub, iif you’re hungry,” you mention. Karkat stares at you. Okay, you’ve got to stop talking to the Striders. “Food. He’2 made food.”

“FINE,” he agrees. At least you know he eats at home. He follows you down the stairs. Your downstairs smells like- cake? Oh for fuck’s sake. Ever since your dad met Mr. Egbert at a school night you’ve started noticing an increasing frequency of baked goods. You love and hate the stuff. Today, though, you're feeling unusually apathedic. Karkat looks at you sharply and you just kind of shrug in reply.

“Ii thiink he’2 lonely,” you mutter simply. You love your dad and all but your whole family’s kind of fucked in the head for one reason or another. You’ll probably be soon, but you don’t worry yourself with it. If it happens, it happens.

“Oh, hello Karkat,” your dad greets him pleasantly. At one time, he’d probably even ask about Mr. Vantas. He doesn’t anymore. He stopped doing that about the same time _she_  moved in with them. You don’t think this has any connection. You don’t think he knows, either. You have no idea what he thinks keeps happening to Karkat. Trolls are naturally violent, though, so maybe he just assumes Karkat's a fighter. That would mean he thinks you're his moirail, but you guess you can deal with that.

“HI MR. CAPTOR,” Karkat responds halfly. He’s sort of hidden behind you, even though he knows for a fact that your dad wouldn’t lay a finger on him.

“We’re ju2t goiing to grab 2ome food and go back up2taiir2,” you explain.

“Alright Ψollux. Are you Ψtaying the night, Karkat?” he asks. You don’t ask that of him. If he does, then he will and if he doesn’t, then he won’t. All the same, Karkat nods. “Alright then, Karkat. Make yourΨelf at home.” He doesn’t say anything else, going back to watching whatever it is he’s put in the oven.

You and Karkat grab enough food to sooth your ravaging teen bellies before heading back for your room.

“Tuna! Food!” your dad yells and you can see Karkat jump. He’s always worse immediately after an alteration. You don’t want to let him go back. He’s smart enough to get off the stairs before your brother comes running out of his room. You step to the side. You and Karkat just kind of watch as Mituna elegantly hapen the stairs with a series of rather loud thumps. It’s not even funny anymore. It’s a little funny.

“Are you okay, Mituna?”

“Y34H.”

“WHY DOES HE HAVE A ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS?” Karkat asks pointedly. You shrug. The two of you return to your room. You return to your desk, placing your plate to the side to nit pick at while you work and Karkat plants himself on the floor in front of the television. Like before, you really have no drive to work on anything. There’s a spot of cherry red blood right in front of your keyboard that you end up staring at for a good two minutes before you realise someone’s pestering you.

Several people are pestering you, in fact. You have no desire to talk to any of them. Kankri wants to know if Karkat’s okay. You don’t answer him. You don’t close the window, though, putting it aside so you can pretend you’re not near your computer right now. AA is telling you something about a game she’s play. She’s logged off already. Terezi’s licked her screen one too many times and wants to know if you can fix it. You do not want to do this. You have no idea what Dave wants. You close that out without bothering to read any of the piles of red text he’s spammed over to you.

This has been unproductive.

“Can’t keep them off my double bulge2,” you mumble.

“I’M TELLING AA,” Karkat answers your aimless self stupidity. You know he means it as a joke.

“Dude, AA and Ii have been broken up for month2,” you scoff back. “Where have you been?” Karkat looks at you because you know the answer to your question, but it was rhetorical. He looks away again.

“SORRY.”

“Iit wa2n’t a biig deal. We ju2t wanted diiferent thiing2.” You wanted to be confused about being flush for Karkat and she wanted someone who wasn’t confused about being flushed for Karkat. And Equius. Weird, but you’re still friends and whatever.

“OH,” and Karkat doesn’t say anything else. You glare at the back of his head. It’s so wrong. He should be yelling at you. Telling you how you’re an asshole for not being able to keep a matesprit any longer than any of your other socially wrecked friends. He should be complaining about how you could have made things work if you would have asked him. He should be teasing you and telling you you should just date Dave and be over with it. But he doesn’t. He just sits with his back to you, making you look at that stupid turtle neck sweater he’s started to wear to hide all his bruises and cuts and burns, and doesn’t say a word.

Maybe he’s not so tough.

"Know why we broke up?" you ask. Karkat just kind of shrugs like he could take it or leave it. And he could. He honestly doesn't care right now. His face is numb, his pride damaged, and he feels useless and unloved. He doesn't care anything about you right now. He just wants everything to stop so he can lick his wounds and bring himself to his feet again. That's what your house is. A medic center where he’s patched up just to go out to do the same stupid thing all over again like the idiot he is.

"Becau2e Ii love you."

You see his shoulders stiffen. He doesn't look at you, he doesn't even turn. In fact, he freezes all together like you won't be able to see him if he doesn't move. Because you do love him. As flushed as fucking flush can be. Red as his creepy cherry blood.

"Do you boyΨ want Ψome cake?" you dad calls with excellent timing.

"YES," Karkat yelps back and you can tell how hard it was for him to not squeak. He makes his way back to the kitchen, but you remain behind. You fucking hate cake. You return to your computer.

apocalypseArisen [AA] has begun trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hey!  
AA: i reached the end of the fucking world and there’s nothing here?  
AA: sollux  
AA: sollux  
AA: sollux  
AA: sollux  
TA: ii need you to do me a favor, aa.  
AA: what kind of favor?  
TA: the kiind of favor that you need to not a2k many que2tiion2 about.  
AA: why do you need someone culled?  
AA: just say the word  
AA: dad’ll be all over it  
TA: no.  
TA: aa no.  
AA: oh  
AA: well what then  
TA: ii need you to go 2tand out2iide kk’2 hou2e iin exactly two and a half hour2.  
AA: i don’t think intimidating karkat is the way to his heart  
AA: if he even has one of those  
TA: ju2t do iit plea2e.  
TA: ii’ll tell you the 2ecret to the end of the world.  
AA: YOU FUCKING BETTER!  
AA: i’ve had so fucking enough of this shit  
TA: two and a half .  
AA: yeah i got it  
TA: top riight wiindow.  
AA: i’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and not assume this is for some creepy reason  
TA: thank2.  
TA: can you get your 2ii2ter two?  
AA: uh  
TA: 井伊は良いものを得ることができます。  
AA: oh then yeah  
AA: but now i’m really curious  
AA: what are you doing?  
TA: nothiing.  
AA: O_O

twinArmageddons [TA] has stopped trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]  
twinArmageddons [TA] has begun trolling turntechGodhead [TG]

TA: ii need a favor.  
TG: whoa i hope you have the goods for something like that  
TA: ii won’t tell diirk what happened to hii2 2tupiid 2tuffed aniimal.  
TG: smuppet  
TA: whatever.  
TG: you drive a hard bargain  
TG: what do you want?  
TG: you’re not like going to make me your sex slave or something are you  
TG: because i think i’d rather get my ass kicked by dirk  
TA: ii thiink ii ju2t vomiited a liitle biit.  
TG: you know you want the hot strider ass  
TG: all this swag is too much for you to handle  
TA: no.  
TA: iin two and half hour2 ii need you to go 2tand out2iide kk’2 hou2e wiith AA and her 2ii2ter.  
TG: why??  
TA: becau2e you don’t want diirk to kiick your a22.  
TG: and what just stand there?  
TA: ju2t 2tand there.  
TA: even an iidiiot liike you couldn’t fuck thii2 up.  
TG: i don’t know i’ve fucked a lot of things up before  
TA: correctiion; you won’t fuck iit up or ii’ll fuck you up  
TG: whoa violent  
TG: i’ll be there  
TG: should i bring dirk??  
TA: no. ju2t you.

twinArmageddons [TA] has stopped trolling turntechGodhead [TG]

So now you deal with your self hatred. You’ve officially scared Karkat now, you have no idea what the fuck you were thinking. The entire reason you haven’t said anything about your flushed feelings was because you didn’t want to test the hero complex thing. You don’t want him to like you just because you’ve been helping him. Though at this point, you’d be surprised if he liked you at all. He probably doesn’t. He has the worst sort of crush on Terezi. Which is bullshit because she’s black for Gamzee anyways.

You run your fucking mouth like an idiot and now you pay the price. You hope Karkat comes back and punches you in the face. You’d deserve it. You give yourself headaches. The solution to your headache is to slam your forehead against your keyboard like a moron. Because you are a moron.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

You lift your head and turn in your chair to look at Karkat again. He’s going to pretend that didn’t just happen. You’re not sure if you wanted this or not. You decide to also pretend it didn’t happen.

“Nothiing,” you answer plainly. You swirl back to your husktop and close out trollchum. Karkat looks over your shoulder a little. He’s still not calming down. Whatever she said to him must have been really bad today. What she does and what she says never matches intensity. It makes things harder for everyone.

“WHAT ARE YOU CODING?” he asks. You glance over the page you’ve been stupidly staring at since Karkat came over.

“A program for FF,” you inform blandly. It hasn’t been going so well. Mostly because you haven’t been paying attention. Shit, did you not close that line? Ugh, you’re going to have to go back and check them all now like a fucking idiot which has already been established that you are. You’re sick of this bullshit right now. “AA 2ent me a game la2t week though. Goiing to play that before 2he hunt2 me down and cut2 me.”

Karkat distantly acknowledges you, but he doesn’t really say anything. He’ll be better in the morning. You think, at least. He can’t be broken forever. He’s Karkat. He returns to the spot in front of your tv and proceeds to start on some crappy romance movie. You’re going to have to go over his house tomorrow to get something for him to wear to school. As you’ve learned through trial and error, going to school in your clothes is not really a good idea.

Your room’s quiet. You manage to somehow focus enough on this game to actually play through it, but you watch Karkat at the corner of your eye. He’s still prodding the bandage with his tongue.

“KK,” you say and he bristles immediately. “2top fuckiing wiith iit.”

“I’M NOT,” he snaps back.

“Ii can 2ee you.”

“SHUT UP.”

He finishes his movie and flitters through your ~ath for a few minutes before starting to strip down. You try not to watch. You’re sure it’s obvious though. He squirms out of his sweater and throws it onto the floor. Immediately, you can see the violently coloured bruises over his back and arms, and even his throat. There’s a clear outline of her hand in several places; where she’s struck him, or grabbed him too roughly, or choked him. There’s scars where he’s been scratched, or cut, or stabbed. There’s burns and needle marks and she’s fucking bitten a chunk out of one of his ears.

You just want to help him get better. You fucking hate her.

“IS THAT- ARADIA?” Karkat’s looking out your window. You get up to stand beside him and he kind of holds his sweater over his chest. He’s been watching too many movies. Of course it’s Aradia. You already knew this. She’s just standing on Karkat’s lawn, staring up at the window like you told her. It’s dark though, you can barely make her and her mass of hair out. A car passes by that temporarily highlights her and when it’s gone, her sister’s standing beside her. At least they catch on quickly.

“Whoa. Iit iis. What are they doiing?”

“WHY ARE THEY IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE?” Karkat struggling to get back in his sweater again. You hold him back.

“Dude. Chiill,” you insist, cupping his bare shoulder gently. He growls angrily in his throat. “Iit’2 late and you’re not even there. Let them be iidiiot2 by them2elve2.” You glance out the window again and Karkat does the same, making a low chittering in his throat. Dave’s standing with them now. They’re just standing there, staring, the dark, creepily.

People don’t really seem to understand troll culture very well. Even other trolls. It’s a complicated manner, after all. It’s complicated as to why someone like Vriska is allowed to seriously injure Tavros but this sea dweller isn’t allowed to place a single finger on Karkat. You don’t completely understand it yourself, but you don’t need to. None of you really need to. It’s nature, built into your brain the same as anyone elses. Dave may not be a troll, and he may not understand it any better than anyone else, but it doesn’t make a lick of difference. He’s still one of you.

“WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK?” Karkat yelps. You find it more weird that you can actually see Dave’s eyes from here. You know that one day, Karkat will probably have eyes the same colour, just like Mr. Vantas, but on a human it’s weird. Which makes it perfect.

Karkat won’t understand. It doesn’t matter, though. He doesn’t need to. A fourth appears and you had nothing to do with this one. It looks like Dave’s bro from this distance, the weirder, movie making one.

Karkat’s sort of flipping his shit. You don’t tell him anything. It’s kind of interesting to watch. The Vantas’ front door opens and Mr. Vantas flashes a light outside. Even from this distance, you can see her standing behind him, easily a head taller than him and excessive gold bits luminescent all on their own. Karkat ducks down immediately, out of the window completely and once again stays completely still.

Three of them disappear into seemingly thin air, leaving behind only Aradia’s sister, Damara. She displays her middle finger proudly for a few seconds before she’s gone as well. You’ll attribute the Striders to that. Mr. Vantas waves the flashlight around in confusion for a few moments before they go back inside.

“2he’2 gone, KK,” you inform him calmly. Karkat peers over the window edge cautiously before standing up again.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”

“Ii wouldn’t worry about iit, KK,” you mumble simply, abandoning the window. Karkat stares for a bit longer before doing the same.

“WHY THE FUCK WERE THEY OUTSIDE MY HOUSE?”

“2ecret admiirer2?”

“THIS ISN’T FUNNY.”

“Dude. Ju2t a2k them tomorrow,” you assume him, sitting back in your chair. He glares at you angrily. However, he doesn’t say much more on the topic. He scoffs sharply though. You kind of hope he’s secretly pleased, but you know he’s not. He shimmies out of his pants and for a moment, just kind of stands and examines himself. He chitters again, a noise of displeasure, and you absently mimic it.

“I’M GOING TO SLEEP,” he tells you loudly. You don’t blame him. All he wants to do lately is sleep. You remember there was once a time where he’d stay awake with you for days on end. There were times he’d stay awake _without_  you for days on end. Why sleep when there’s shit to do? Now he just doesn’t want to be awake. You’ve caught him skipping class by sleeping in bushes, sleeping _in_  class and even just napping on your floor. You guess it’s better than the alternative. You’re not even sure if he has thought about that and you don’t really want to find out, either.

“Niight,” you murmur in reply and watch as he climbs into your pod. You don’t think he sleeps very well in yours, considering how unusual the sopor is, but you don’t think it matters to him, either. He disappears under the surface and you rotate back to your husktop yet again.

apocalypseArisen [AA] has begun trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: now tell me  
TA: you have to diie at the end of the world to re2urrect on the other 2iide.  
AA: are you serious?  
TA: yeah.  
AA: OH MY FUCKING GOD  
AA: sduyhbIJ_POU(

apocalypseArisen [AA]’s computer has been thrown against the wall.

twinArmageddons [TA] has started trolling turntechGodhead [TG]

TA: what’2 wiith your bro?  
TG: man i dunno  
TG: he fucking followed me  
TG: he’s weird as shirt  
TG: sorry  
TA: iit’2 fiine.  
TG: so should i be prepared to hit this up again tomorrow or what?  
TA: no. diirk can, though  
TG: i didn’t think you had it in you to be a sneaky little bastard  
TG: straight up evil mastermind over here  
TG: good luck man

twinArmageddons [TA] has stopped trolling turntechGodhead [TG]

You decide to join Karkat. You can’t think of anything better than some sleep right now, anyways, and the sweet embrace of the sopor. You strip down and flickered out the lights before climbing in on the opposite side. Karkat’s hand grasps yours. You sleep a little bit better.


	2. Karkat: Contemplate Death

You wake up the same way you have been lately; in someone else’s pod, with pressure on your face, and various parts of your body sore. You don’t want to leave it, though. You don’t want to leave period. You wish it were possible to drown in sopor. You bet there is and you’re just too fucking stupid to figure it out. Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you basically have the shittiest life possible right now.

You poke your head out of the top of Sollux’s pod and hang on the edge momentarily while you try to recollect your groggy thoughts. You have to go to school today. Well you don’t have to, really, but you’d rather be there with teachers than out in the open where she could get to you. You hate her. You hate her for stealing your own father away from you. You don’t like the injuries she dishes out, no, but you could see how you’d sort of deserve most of them.

Sollux glances to you. He’s clearly been awake for a while and it looks like he’s brought some clothes over from your house. You’re partially thankful for it, you don’t want to have to deal with her this morning, and you partially hate him for it. You can take care of yourself. You don’t need his help. You don’t need anyone’s help. Because you’re not in a position to need help, not because you’re one of those people that just refuses help. There’s nothing wrong for you to need help in the first place.

“Unle22 you want to mii22 fiir2t periiod, Ii’d 2ugge2t you move your a22,” Sollux informs you. You don’t really want to go, honestly, not with your mouth in the condition it’s in. People already ask you questions about shit that’s none of their business and this one’s pretty bad. Your eye swelling seems to be going down, at least. You don’t see why they even fucking care. It’s not like they’ve cared before.

You climb out of Sollux’s pod and make your way across his room, leaving blue footprints of sopor in your wake. You can feel him watching you. _Because I love you_.

You abscond the fuck out of there. You don’t know what kind of bullshit games he’s playing, but they’re not fucking funny.

“G00D M0RN1NG K4RK47,” Mituna greets you in the hall and smiles broadly. You’ll never understand how they’re related.

“MORNING,” you grumble back and slip past him to use the shower. It’s totally not weird how you smell like honey more and more frequently. Yeah. The whole school probably thinks you’re messing around with Sollux at this point. They probably also think he’s a sadist. You don’t actually know if he’s not. You mean, you have to guess that he’s not.

You’re probably too fucking ugly for even a sadist, anyways. You're covered in scars and weird bruises and stitches and jegus knows what else. She tried to bleed you out one night, which was awesome. ‘Maybe we can replace all this nasty blood with a prettier colour.’ Oh yeah, that would have worked well. She wanted to try it on you first, of course, as to not hurt your dad. You almost let her.

She really loves your dad for some reason you can’t understand. And he really loves her. At least, he obviously loves her more than you. You guess you want him to be happy. You’d really like him to be happy. You can’t see why he can’t be happy with Ms Leijon, you thought they had a thing for a while. Or, you know, someone that doesn’t hate you. That’s not fair. She doesn’t hate you. She just wants what’s best for you and being a mutant is definitely not best.

Ha, because I love you bullshit. Fucking Sollux. That shit’s not funny.

You’re a fucking gross mutant with nubby little horns. Who apparently pissed off both the Striders and Megidos somehow. You have no idea what you fucking did this time. Dave’s annoying as shit, but you can’t think of anything you actually did to him, or his brother for that matter, that would warrant a house visit. Man, that was creepy as fuck. You especially can’t think of anything you did to the Megidos. You’re pretty sure Mr. Droogs even likes you.

You’re just a terrible fucking person, obviously. That’s the only logical conclusion here. They came to your house to fucking lynch you or something. You’d deserve it.

“KK? What the fuck are you doiing iin there?” Sollux taps on the bathroom door and you quickly shut off the water. “Don’t ma2terbate iin my 2hower. You’ll clog the draiin2.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP SOLLUX! I CAN’T GET THIS BLUE SHIT OUT OF MY HAIR.”

“2ure you can’t, KK.”

You hop out of the shower quickly, wrapping a towel around your waist and slamming the door open. Sollux raises a brow at you.

“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A FUCKING SHOW?”

“Wouldn’t miind one,” he mumbles as he head down the stairs. You have no idea what you were suppose to say to that, so it’s for the better anyways. You return to his room and swiftly dress. It’s no longer weird to be naked in the Captor house, but you don’t make an effort to stay that way. You’re glad you add your bookbag to your sylladex everyday after school, otherwise you’d be royally fucked this semester.

You meet the rest of the Captors downstairs. Sometimes you actually feel like you’re a part of this family. Mr. Captor is staring at you from across the kitchen. And sometimes you don’t. You wouldn’t be surprised if he hates how often you’re here. He hands you an apple, slowly. You reluctantly take it, trying your best not to look at him. Sollux nudges your arm with his elbow pointedly, reminding you that you’re already running late.

“Have a good day, boyΨ,” Mr. Captor bids the set of you a goodbye and you trot after Sollux. You don’t want this apple at all. It’s that weird, bright red colour. You captchalogue it for now. Kurlos is waiting in front of the house. You absently glance toward your hive across the way, but all the lights are out still.

“Aw KaRkAt, WhAt’S mOtHeRfUcKiNg Up WiTh YoUr LiP?” Gamzee hangs out the back window. You shove him out of the way to squeeze into the backside between him and Sollux. This car is way too fucking small to transport five of you, even if all four of five of you are lanky as fuck.

“IT’S CALLED A FUCKING SPLIT LIP,” you snap at him. Sollux closes the door behind him and you unconsciously jump at the thud. He looks apologetic that asshole.

“YeAh BuT-” Gamzee glances down your chin. “dOeS tHaT mOtHeRfUcKiNG uSuAlLy InClUdE sPlIt MoThErFuCkInG fAcE tOo?” he questions. You hate when he tries to be smart about shit.

“YES IT FUCKING DOES. DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?” you hiss back at your moirail. He raises his hands calmly.

“NaH bRo. JuSt MoThErFuCkInG aSkInG.”

“WELL DON’T.” You pull the collar of your sweater up over your chin and mouth and hold it there. You know he’s just concerned, but it’s none of his fucking business. Fucking purple blood. The only fucking problem he has is staying fucking high. Like medically fucking high so he doesn’t flip his shit. Sollux places a hand on your leg and the quarters of the car are too close for you to tell him to piss off. It’s really not fucking funny. Jokes fucking over.

Any amount of time in this car is too fucking long. Mituna’s just fucking talking to himself in the front seat like a jackass and Gamzee’s laughing like he fucking understands what’s going on. You’re fucking done with all of these assholes. You can’t get out of the car fast enough when it finally stops, shoving Gamzee out forcibly and absconding as far away as you can with as many steps as you can. Unfortunately, both Gamzee and Sollux keep up without any effort.

First thing’s first, of course, you confront Strider like the fuck ass he is.

“bro no that’s not even close you’re so off the fucking map your banging nessy in the atlantic”

“STRIDER!” you yelp. He turns away from his stupid conversation with John immediately to look down at you through his equally stupid shades. You’re just glad he’s covering up those creeping fucking eyes of him like he should be. “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING AT MY HIVE LAST NIGHT?”

“why were you at karkat’s house?” John pips in completely unneededly.

“dude i wasn’t at your house last night” Dave answers blandly. “why would i be at your house?”

“THAT’S WHAT I FUCKING WANT TO KNOW! YOU AND YOUR BROTHER AND ARADIA AND HER WEIRD SISTER,” you insist. Sollux saw them even! You know you weren’t see things! You turn to Sollux for approval and- there’s no Sollux here. Only Gamzee. Of course he’s gone now.

“you can ask rose i was on pesterchum with her all night bro i don’t know what you’re on about” He jerks his thumb toward her sharply and you would like to punch him in his stupid face.

“He was, Karkat. Are you sure it was Dave? Perhaps you were mistaken?” Rose confirms with a delicate nod. You fucking know it was Dave. He’s the only one at this school with red eyes. Who else would it be? You don’t want to deal with this. You honestly don’t want to deal with anything. At least he’s not angry at you, if that’s any fucking constellation. You kind of wish he’d just use that stupid fucking piece of shit sword on you and be over with it, though.

“what happened to your face karkat?” John asks noisily. All three of his friends look at you with just as much curiosity.

“YOUR FUCKING PERSONALITY HAPPENED,” you hiss back.

“he got you good john apply cold water to that burn”

You have no idea if Dave is actually complimenting you or teasing you. You’re will to bet he’s teasing. You storm away angrily. Gamzee still follows. You go in search for Aradia. Unfortunately, you can not find her before the bell rings. You try again at lunch and continue to be unable to find her. You even ask her dad where she is and he, obviously, responds with ‘the fuck happened to you kid?’ So today has been productive.

Unfortunately, you do run into your brother though. You haven’t seen him in a couple days, so you’re glad he’s okay you guess, but you never really want to talk to him. He actually doesn’t say much to you, though, instead he just drags you over to Porrim who smears make up over your stitches and somehow makes them disappear. Witchcraft. You begrudgingly thank her. At least they’ll stop asking now.

It’s still weird Kanrki hasn’t said anything to you. Not a word, actually. You’re pretty sure he can talk now. Maybe he just doesn’t want to anymore. You could see why after she snubbed out a cigarette on his tongue. Even you thought that was kind of harsh just for one of his stupid rants and you’d do a lot to get him to shut up. You guess he’s smarter than you, though. He only comes home when he absolutely has to. You’re pretty sure he doesn’t have to at all, but in fact is just checking on you. You don’t need his help. Why don’t these fuckers understand that?

You trod through the rest of your day more or less normally. You’ve basically given up on trying to find Aradia at this point. She’s obviously trying to avoid you. Maybe Rose was right and it wasn’t Dave and you have to worry about someone else lynching you.

In english you mysteriously get paired up with Sollux for a reading project. You might as well spend the night at Sollux’s house again, then. It’d be pointless to go home. You find him again after school so you can walk home together because why the fuck not. He’s talking to Tavros, or was. You only come upon the parting words.

“Yeah, thank2 Tavbro.”

“cOURSE,,”

You find yourself unusually anxious about this. You don’t know what Sollux is up to, but you’re not fucking falling for any of it. He doesn’t act like there’s anything wrong, of course he fucking wouldn’t, but Tavros is a little more nervous than usually when he sees you. He greets and bids you farewell all on the same breath.

“Let’2 get out of here,” Sollux says as he captchalogues his bag. You wisely do the same. The two of you discuss your report on the walk home. It’s not a long walk by any means, but one of your knees is still bruised pretty badly and it’s starting to bother you again. Maybe you can get some ice or something later. When you get to the Captor’s house, you’re immediately met with the sight of Mituna cuddling with his matesprit on the sofa.

“Gro22. Where’2 dad?” Sollux thumps his fingers on his brother’s helmet as he passes by. Latula smiles at you mildly when you meet her eyes. Yeah. Awesome. You totally needed to be reminded of Terezi right now. If you weren’t such a freak of nature, you would have probably had a chance with her.

“UH,” Mituna pauses, but it isn’t a pause that says he doesn’t know. He knows exactly and he looks at you because he doesn’t want to say. No. No. Jegus no. “H3 W3N7 0V3R 70 7H3 V4N745’.”

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

“WHAT? WHY?”

“c4lm down k4rk4t,” Latula insists, dragging Mituna closer to her for protection. “h3 s41d h3 w4s just t4k1ng som3th1ng ov3r to your d4d.”

“MY DAD’S NOT HOME.” It’s fucking Thursday. Your dad goes wherever the fuck he goes on Thursdays. The library or something. Dad things. She’s going to hate Mr. Captor. If she attacks him, all hell could break loose.

“Home already?” Or not. Mr. Captor enters the hive not long after you. He doesn’t look like he’s fought with anyone, but he smiles in an annoyed fashion. He’s upset. You know he’s upset. You should leave. He’s going to kick you out anyways now. She’s said something to him to make him hate you. “Ψtay aΨ long aΨ you’d like, Karkat. Ψollux, we need to talk.”

Now you’ve gotten Sollux in trouble. He’s going to hate you now. Sollux just nods, though, heading into the kitchen.

“I’LL WAIT UPSTAIRS,” you say, acting like you’re not nearly as worried for your friend as you are. Sollux waves his hand at you. You head upstairs. Shit, you should really do something. It wasn’t Sollux’s fault. You try to listen to what’s going on downstairs, but you can’t hear anything unusual or breaking. Well, if he loved you before, you don’t have to worry about it now.

Just as you’re planning to head downstairs to help out, the door opens and knocks you back several steps. Sollux looks at you, but he’s not distressed in any way, or injured.

“What are you doiing KK?”

“NOTHING,” you snap.

“Uh huh.”

“WHAT DID- WHAT DID YOUR DAD WANT?” you ask tentatively. It’s really none of your business, you guess.

“Huh?” he replies and you know he’s fucking stalling but there’s nothing you can do about it.

“MR. CAPTOR?”

“Oh.” _Oh_  he says. Fucking _oh_. “He wa2 telliing me your dad wa2n’t home, 2o he’2 goiing to 2tep out for a biit and Ii need to watch Miituna and order 2omethiing for diiner. Why?” He’s lying. Mr. Captor was pissed off. You hear the door closed downstairs, though, and you’re a little relieved.

“NOTHING. FUCK. LET’S JUST WORK ON OUR PROJECT,” you scoff sharply, pulling your bag from your sylladex and tossing it beside his desk. You’re kind of falling behind in several of your classes anyways, so you do actually need to work on this no matter how much you don’t want to. You lean your back against his desk and make yourself comfortable on the floor to begin flipping through the book.

You talk at him and he replies with minimum answers. He’s mad at you now. You knew it. He just stares at his husktop like he always does.

“Ii wa2n’t jokiing, you know,” Sollux mumbles while you’re quietly rereading a passage. You stare at him stupidly because you have no idea what he’s talking about, then look back at your book like it’s going to help you understand. It does not. “We broke up becau2e Ii wa2 2tupiid over you.”

_Shit!_  Preparing to abscond.

“Don’t blow me off ju2t becau2e you thiink Ii’m fuckiing around wiith you.” He doesn’t look at you. He doesn’t need to. Why does he need to do this now? You don’t need this. Running away isn’t going to help you. Shit, you just need- fuck! You have to say something.

“50LLUX!”

Oh thank troll jegus.

“What!” Sollux yells back, way more annoyed now. At least you’re off the hook for now. It’ll give you time to think. Or, you know, ignore everything and pretend like this doesn’t keep happening.

“50M37H1NG’5 H4PP3N1NG 4CR055 7H3 57R337!” You can barely understand Mituna most the time, but you make out enough of it. Across the street is your house. You stand abruptly, approaching the window. It’s dark already. When did that happen? Fortunately, she’s not doing anything. In fact, your dad isn’t even home yet.

Unfortunately, this is probably worse for you. Dirk is standing on your lawn. In the dark. Just staring. Now you know it was Dave. What did you ever do to the Striders? His older brother appears. You’re officially freaked out at this point. The eldest Strider is scary as fuck during the day and now it’s dark and he’s in front of your house for some reason.

“What the fuck diid you do?” Sollux mutters beside you. You grasp your head in your palms, gripping your horns with enough force to snap them off.

Then things get worse. Tavros is suddenly with them. You know for a fact you’ve never done anything to Tavros! You can guess what happens next. Yep. Tavros’ brother is there now. Can you win the freak jackpot? Can you? Yes you can. There’s Mr. Nitram.

Your head thumps against the glass pane of the window hard. Sollux pats your shoulder. It does not make you feel any better. You see the lights in your house come on and quickly duck down so she doesn’t see you. You know she knows you’re here, but you’ve learned to stay out of her sight whenever possible. You’re just an eyesore, anyways.

“They’re gone,” Sollux assures you. “2econd niight iin a row. Maybe you 2hould 2tay here untiil thii2 blow2 over, man.”

“FUCK. WHAT DID I EVER DO?” You stay down. It’ll save Sollux from having to see you. An eye sore.

“Have you con2iidered that they don’t have anythiing agaiin2t you and maybe have 2omethiing agaiin2t that 2ea dweller that treat2 everyone below her liike 2hiit?” your buddy suggests. Yeah, you’ve considered this. You know she’s exchanged some very nasty words with your friends and your friend’s parents, but she’s a violet blood. She’s allowed to do stuff like that. People wouldn’t hate her for it. Your dad’s never ruffled any feathers. Obviously they have a bone to pick with you.

“DO YOU THINK YOUR DAD WOULD MIND IF I DID?”

“Cour2e not.”


	3. Sollux: Steal A Car

You were wrong. Your father knew exactly what was going on. The reason he wasn’t doing anything was the same reason you weren’t doing anything; it was really none of your business. What happens in the Vantas’ family is the Vantas’ problem. Which is all fine and dandy until it involves more than the Vantas family. Your father assured you that he would speak with Mr. Vantas and as far as you know, it did not go well.

Your name is SOLLUX CAPTOR and your very basic plan to just startle your flush crush’s abusive step mom has evolved to a full on community revenge scheme to protect the Vantas’. Whatever your dad found out, it was obviously bad. This really wasn’t your intention, but if possible, and it’s looking very possible, getting rid of her would simply be fantastic. You’re not a leader though and quite honestly, you feel as though it’s been taken out of your hands already, anyways.

You have other things to deal with. Usually, the longer Karkat’s away from her, the better he gets, but today’s different. It’s only the third day, but you can tell when something’s wrong. He’s been gone too long. The two of you were playing a game in the livingroom when he had to break for the loo. Of course, as a friend, you took this time to cheat, but now he’s been gone way longer than necessary. You’re concerned.

Generally, you watch him pretty closely despite him never showing any signs of any instability. You’re an idiot for putting your guard down. You head upstairs to check on him.

“KK?” There’s blood seeping out from under the bathroom door. You’re positive that not sopor, as much as you want it to be. “KK!” you shout and there’s still no answer. You rip the door straight off the hinges without thinking about it. Karkat doesn’t respond, immediately alerting you to the fact that he has worked himself into some sort of stupor.

Karkat turns to you. He’s ripped his stitches out. His lip is way worse than it had been and he’s bleeding all over again. He’s ripped out the other one’s, too, whatever stitches he could find and then some. His mutant blood is all over the place, mostly dripping down his face and smeared over his hands. He’s used his hands and nails and nothing else.

“Karkat,” you say because you don’t know what else to. You meet his eyes and one of his pupils is completely shot and he’s paler than usual. He’s hit his head too hard and lost too much blood. “We need to go to the ho2piital.”

Karkat shakes his head.

“That wa2n’t a que2tiion.” He’s seriously injured and he’s going to the hospital. You’re not debating this, you’re not going to humor him, and you’re not going to let him die. Sure enough, Karkat chooses now to put up a fight. It’s not a play fight, either, he’s seriously freaked out right now and out of his fucking mind. You can’t get a good grip of him with your hands nor your psionic. This actually isn’t all that unusual. Whatever makes Karkat a mutant tends to make him immune to a lot of things, too. He gets you pretty good, his fist connecting with your cheek and his nails catch on your arms, but you finally get your arms around his waist and physically remove him from the bathroom.

He’s flinging his limbs around and trying to bite you and fuck you do not have the fitness for this. You manage to get downstairs without killing both of you.

“Miituna! Open the door!” you shout. Fortunately he’s actually nearby and you don’t have to wait for him fumble his way over. He flings the door open and you carry Karkat in a straight line to exactly where you need to go. Mituna follows you worriedly. Unfortunately, your family doesn’t drive. Your brother, obvious reasons there, and your father has post traumatic stress, which he used to total your first car. You do know where you can get one, though.

“Miituna, call Kankrii and meet u2 at the ho2piital,” you instruct your brother as you forcibly struggle to get Karkat into the back of your neighbors car. He never locks the damn thing. The only reason it hasn’t been stolen is because everyone’s too nice to him. Mituna runs back to your house.

“Mr. Deuce!” you yell and your teacher appears in his window curiously. “Ii’m borrowiing your car!”

“Alright! Be safe boy!” He likes you, so you can usually put off his weirdness. You turn back to the vehicle which Karkat is not actively trying to escape from but will likely try to kill you both as soon as you get behind the wheel. There’s just blood everywhere. This isn’t going to work.

“LET ME OUT, SOLLUX. I’M NOT GOING TO THE HOSPITAL,” Karkat assures you sharply. You ignore him in favor of getting out your mobile. “SOLLUX. YOU ASSHOLE! LET ME OUT!”

twinArmageddons [TA] has started trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]

TA: put kk to 2leep now  
AG: Excuse me?  
TA: now serket   
AG: Whoa whoa whoa.  
AG: Now isn’t this sudden?  
TA: you have three 2econd2  
AG: You think I’m afraid of you?  
AG: Ahahahahahahahah  
TA: two 2econd2  
AG: 8esides it’s Karkat. There’s a very slim chance I could even if I wanted to.   
TA: one 2econd

Karkat falls asleep.

TA: you’re 2tronger now  
TA: congratulatiion2  
TA: reward  
AG: God, you’re such a dick Sollux.

You continue to not have time for this. With Karkat safety subdued, you quickly settle yourself in the driver’s seat. It even smells like blood in the close quarters. If you were squeamish, this would be a bitch. You know the way to the hospital by heart at this point. You have zero care for the speed limit but you’re sure that if you are pulled over, the bleeding wreck in the backseat will give you a get out of jail free card.

He’s still asleep when you get there, making it much easier to carry him inside. There’s a nurse on you as soon as you’re in the door and you gladly let them take him. Karkat’s not actually violent once he’s in the hospital, so you’re not that worried. You do have to stay in the waiting room, though, mainly because you’re not actually related to him.

Kankri finally appears twenty minutes later with your brother and Porrim in tow. At least he still fucking cares about his brother. He takes long steps towards you and you can see the concern on his face, but he doesn’t say anything to you.

“So+llux? What happened?” Porrim asks. You stare at Kankri pointedly before averting your gaze to her.

“Ii don’t know. He freaked out,” and that’s really all you know. He’d been perfectly fine before that.

“Freaked o+ut?” she insisted, fishing for more information.

“What the fuck do you want me to 2ay Maryam? He fuckiing fliipped hii2 2hiit and riipped out 2tiiche2 and maiimed hiim2elf. Ii don’t fuckiing know.” Probably because she fucking has him thinking he’s a freak and then some. Kankri presses his palms into his eyes. Then he’s walking towards the desk swiftly.

“Ii’m leaviing,” you inform sharply, shoving your hands in your pockets.

“Where’s Mr. Vantas?” Porrim talks after you.

“Don’t fuckiing care.”

“50LLUX,” Mituna trots after you. They’ll probably make Mr. Vantas come down to get Karkat and you’re not sticking around for that. You’re not sticking around and possibly coming face to face with her, either. And you thought fucking Ms Peixes was a witch. You actually just end up sitting in the driver’s seat for a few minutes. Mituna climbs into the passenger's seat.

“50LLUX,” he says again.

“Ii hate her.”

“P0RR1M?”

“Ye2, Miituna. Ii hate Porriim. You caught me.”

“MR5 V4N745?”

“They’re not marriied.” Thank god. You thump your forehead against the steering wheel. “Ii’m 2o fuckiing red for hiim, Tuna. What do Ii do?” Mituna proves to be very helpful older brother. He just kind of makes a twitchy shrug motion. Yeah. You figured. You laugh, a pitiful noise even to you. There’s nothing for you to do here. You’ll just have to wait. If you’re lucky, Karkat will be in the hospital all night. You pass Mr. Vantas on the way home with no sign of her.

Good.

You return Mr. Deuce’s car and promise you’ll pay for the staining in the back. He asks you if everything’s okay and you politely assure him that it is and there’s nothing to worry about no matter much of a lie it is. He probably knows.

Your dad’s already home when you return. He frowns at you. You’ll let Mituna tell him, though. You’re going to head over to the Vantas’ and get some stuff for Karkat. He’s not going back over there and you’re not going to let them take him there. You’re not afraid of her.

You make a beeline straight to the Vantas’ front door and you knock. You’re not going to be violent towards her, either. She’s not worth it. She answers and smiles with the politeness that she hides her pitch black personality with.

“Oh, the lil’ low blood. What’cha want?” she asks calmly. You don’t even want to acknowledge her.

“Can Ii come iin?” you ask simply, because you’re not going to tell her why you’re here, either. She steps aside to let you in. You head for Karkat’s room. You’re surprised it still looks like his room and she hasn’t remodeled it or something at this point. You gather enough of his stuff to last a while and shove it in your sylladex. He doesn’t have much stuff, you knew already. He has even less now and you’re not surprised.

You leave just as swiftly as you had come. She hasn’t move from beside the door. She’s probably happy about what she’s doing. Getting rid of another mutant. What the hell is she even thinking? The world’s suddenly going to favor her because there’s no more mutants? Oh, you’d fucking love to see that.

“Buh bies,” she waves her hookish fingers at you as you leave.

You calmly, very calmly, return across the street to your own house and proceed to slam the door behind you.

“Take it outΨide, Ψollux,” your dad warns. At this point, you’re not sure he’s wrong to remind you. Without a word, you exit out through the kitchen into the open backyard. It's open, and empty, for a reason.

You remove your glasses and destroy several hundred feet of ground.

This does not make you feel as good as you would have hoped.

No. You don’t get proper relief until later that night when you walk across the street, stand on the Vantas’ lawn, and stare into her bedroom. It’s not her bedroom, but she’s wrapped her talons all over Mr. Vantas. Your brother joins you. Just the two of you are no problem. Two mustard blood. When your father joins you, she gets nervous. You know this because she turns the lights off. When Nepeta joins you, you’re a threat. Her sister makes you a problem, but her mother makes you a mob. You’re not quite done yet, either. Jake makes it a statement and his grandmother makes it political.

If she hasn’t gotten the picture yet, she never will. If she has, she isn’t taking you serious. You don’t want her to stop. You want her to _leave_. You all want her to leave. This time, she doesn’t leave the house. Eight of you is too many for her to tempt fate. After half an hour, you all leave anyways.

She’s still around the next day. You’re not surprised.

Porrim takes you back to the hospital the next morning. Fortunately, Mr. Vantas has other things to take care of. You’re super glad they were more important than tending to his physically and emotionally ruined son.

Karkat’s in the recovery room, so they let you see him without a fight. Kankri’s gone to school so it’s just you and Karkat, and Porrim in the waiting room. Karkat doesn’t look much better. His wounds are restitched and wrapped, but he looks apathetic and sore. Pathetic even.

“You look liike you went through a fuckiing whiirling blade deviice,” you say and then proceed to want to punch yourself in the face for literally being unable to say anything you actually want to say. Karkat glared at you.

“FUCK YOU,” he answered sharply.

“You ready to go, KK?” you ask.

“SINCE YESTERDAY,” he snaps at you. He doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge against you, though. At least he’s sober now. Karkat climbs out of the bed and you toss him a new shirt to change into.

“Porriim’s waiitiing to take u2 home, 2o unle22 you want to go to 2chool, and 2he probably won’t let you, we can ju2t chiill at my hou2e,” you explain as he changes.

“FINE,” Karkat agrees and he acts like he doesn’t want to, but you know better. He doesn’t want to have to answer questions, anyways.

“Miituna 2ay2 Kankrii’2 goiing to come home wiith hiim, two,” you continue. Karkat chitters angrily.

“JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE, ASSHOLE,” he demanded, grabbing what few things he had with him and leading you out of the room. You follow. Porrim immediately gives him a look over to make sure he’s even in any condition to go home before apparently deciding that he is and the three of you head for her car.

She forces Karkat into the backseat and you sit along with him. The Maryams have always sort of been caretakers for the Vantas. It’s too bad Mr. Vantas has more or less banished them from his home thanks to her. You’re pretty sure there was only a matter of time before Ms Leijon and Ms Maryam dished it out with her anyways.

Porrim doesn’t just leave when you arrive. She takes note of the fact that your dad is away and helps herself inside. She starts cooking in your kitchen. Karkat, on the other hand, heads straight upstairs. No one’s put the door back on the bathroom yet, so you don’t feel the need to follow him. Hopefully this won’t prove to make you an idiot again. You sit at the kitchen island with Porrim.

“2orry about all the cake.”

“Do+es yo+ur family eat anything that isn’t co+vered, co+ated, o+r blended with ho+ney?” she asks, handling a very nice bottle of the stuff. You have to think about it.

“I thiink we had 2alad one day,” you admit. She gives you a long stare. “Ii don’t thiink iit had honey iin iit. Iit’2 good. Try iit.”

“No+. Thanks.”

You glance toward the stairs, unfortunately with a chatter that gets Porrim’s attention.

“Yo+u sho+uld go+ talk to+ him,” she says. You really don’t want to do that.

“Ii don’t thiink he want2 to talk to me riight now. He thiink2 Ii’m fuckiing wiith hiim,” you mumble. You don’t blame him, really. You’re an asshole anyways. Porrim glares at you. She continues to glare at you until you get up and go do what she says. You do not want a Maryam’s wrath.

You walk yourself up the stairs reluctantly. Karkat’s looking himself over in your room. It doesn’t look like he’s going to maim himself this time, though. You watch him for a few minutes before he notices you. His face turns a bright red colour.

“HEY! FUCK OFF, YOU PERVERT!”

“You know Ii can’t keep my eye2 off you, babe.” It’s far from a lie. Karkat glares at you. It’s not as damaging as Porrim’s is.

“YEAH RIGHT,” he scoffs.

“Iit’2 true.”

“LIAR. I’M JUST A FUCKING MUTANT,” he mumbles and quickly tries to pull his sweater back on. You grab it, though, stopping him.

“That ha2 nothiing to do wiith anythiing, KK,” you assure him. “Your blood colour ii2 iirrelevant.”

“I DON’T NEED YOU TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER,” he snaps sharply.

“Ii’m not tryiing two. Ii’m telliing you the truth.” You throw his sweater aside, glancing down his chest and the marks that liter him. You don’t find them ugly. They’re just scars. You touch one along his collar. Karkat chitters. “You’re a fuckiing moron iif you thiink any of the2e make you an le22 than anyone el2e. And you’re a fuckiing moron for lettiing her get away wiith thii2.”

“I-” Karkat glances down a bit, grinding his teeth in his mouth. “SHE MAKES MY DAD HAPPY.”

“2o that make2 everythiing okay?”

“WELL,” he hesitates for a moment. “YEAH.”

“Karkat, nothiing make2 thii2 okay. Do you even 2ee what 2he’2 done to you, you fuckiing iidiiot?” You remove your hand from him and Karkat just stares at the floor. You didn’t mean to upset him, but fuck. “Do you even realiize how much you’ve changed? People hardly recogniize you anymore.”

“PEOPLE DON’T CARE ABOUT ME,” he scoffs lowly.

“Are you fuckiing 2eriiou2, KK?” You shouldn’t be surprised, really. Karkat shoves you awake at the shoulders angrily, but you keep your footing and only back away a single step. “Are you that iignorant?”

“SHUT UP!”   
“You 2elfii2h a22hole, people care about you,” you snap at him. He snarls at you in return. Surprisingly, this is actually a good thing. You’re not as angry suddenly. This is in no way new to you. You rub the bridge of your nose between your fingers. “Ii don’t want to fiight wiith you, KK.”

“WHAT DO YOU FUCKING WANT, THEN?” he growls. He’s not afraid. That’s good. You’re glad, really, but you really don’t want to fight. It never goes anywhere with Karkat, anyways. He’s as stubborn as they come.

“Kii22iing you would be niice,” you say and you mean it as a joke. Since you do mean it as a joke, of course the exact opposite is going to happen. That’s logically the only conclusion to be drawn here.

“FINE,” Karkat says. You look at him. He’s not looking at you, but sort of off to the side and his face is no less red. It’s so weird how he can juggle other people’s relationships cleanly and yet when it comes to himself- this. The whole hero complex is still on the table, but that’s something for future Sollux to deal with. “DO IT BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND.”

You don’t have to be told twice. You close the small gap between you with a smooth step and cup a hand over his cheek. You’ve never actually kissed a guy before, but Karkat is a rom com addict so you don’t sweat it. You nearly hesitate, though. His lip’s still fucked up and you don’t want to hurt him. You don’t let him see this.

So you meet him somewhat awkwardly. As bad as it would be for him to catch his teeth on his stitches, your teeth are much sharper and you’d probably end up just straight up ripping them out. You do not want your first kiss with Karkat to end like that. It does not. He kisses back unsurely. He’s never done this before, you know that for a fact, but you guess he’s learned something from those romantic comedies because he’s not that bad at it. Still, with your split tongue you have the upperhand on all mouth related activities.

He shoves you away after a few moments. He covers his mouth with the back of his hand, but it’s not bad.

“2atii2fiied thii2 ii2n’t a joke?” you tease him. Karkat just nods solemnly.

“SORRY,” he mumbles. “ARE WE STILL-?”

“Yeah KK. We are.”


	4. Karkat: Stop Being An Idiot

So you have a matesprit now? You don’t want to ask. You’re rather pretend that he is than find out that he’s not. Not that you’re desperate or anything. You just would like to not feel like shit for a little while. Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you’re starting to think that maybe something’s wrong.

After Porrim leaves, you sort of expect something to happen but you’re not sure what. You’ll admit that lately, the idea of someone loving you has generally come with a ‘but’ and you don’t particularly like that. ‘There’s nothing wrong with your blood colour, Karkat, but, let’s see if we can at least make you a rust’.

You’re sore all over again and still a little off balance from the blood loss so you’re pleased to be able to sit on the couch all day. On the down side, you have to do this with Sollux, but he’s yet to act any different than usual. You know from experience that it’s only a matter of time before that changes.

You fiddle with the bandage on your ear where she’d tried to give you ear fins. All they could do was stitch it. You don’t have the money for the surgery to fix it. You guess if you decided to actually get ear fins, she’d put the money out for you, but until then you’re plum out of luck. It’s not that bad, really.

“Ii’m goiing two put a cone on you,” Sollux warns.

“SHUT UP. EVERYTHING ITCHES,” you puff angrily.

“Maybe you 2houldn’t have riipped them open, then,” he replies and you flinch against your will. You know he’s right, but you couldn’t help yourself. Rather, you couldn’t stop yourself. You don’t want to think about it. You remove your hand from your ear though, angrily crossing your arms over your chest.

“FUCK YOU,” you mumble under your breath. Sollux glances at you halfly. You hate that look more than anything, how he peers through his fucking glasses at you like you’ve done something wrong and he wants to show you how to do it right. You remedy this by not looking at him. Still, he’s right. You need to leave them alone or they’ll scar and be even uglier. If that’s even possible.

You don’t know what he wants, anyways. You don’t even know why he lets you stay here so often. You’re such a fucking bother. You make him fix you up when you know damn well you can do it yourself. How can he still stand you? Even you’re sick of you. It’s no wonder your dad likes her better. You should just let her do whatever the fuck she wants. Hell, maybe it’ll actually work and you won’t be a mutant anymore.

But, then again, you’ve always asked for too much, haven’t you? He’s just on a roll today, isn’t he? You are a selfish asshole. You deserve every bit of this shitty existence. You huddle in on yourself. Self is safe.

Sollux grabs one of your nubby horns and immediately, you're on the defensive. However, he simply tugs your head down and you hesitantly follow the gesture. You’re actually glad for your nubby horns lately, it gives her less to grab on to. Sollux presses your face against his chest and you remain stiff for a moment. He just drapes his arm around your neck though and it’s kind of weird but nice? Like one of your great movies.

He rubs the base of your horn lazily and you relax. Okay, this is definitely nice. The lovely rubbings have you purring loudly which would be painfully embarrassing if he wasn’t doing the same. Somehow, you manage to calm down. It’s surprisingly easy not to think like this. You end up nodding off eventually.

Though you’d hate to admit it, that’s probably the best you’ve slept since she came into your life. You won’t tell anyone this, of course. You guess cliches are cliches for a reason. When you wake up, your brother’s there. He’s sitting on the floor in front of you with Mituna and Kurlos. Sollux hasn’t moved and you’re kind of drooling on his shirt like a fucking idiot. You shove away from him quickly and gather your senses. You’re going to pretend no one saw you doing that.

“4W FUCK 5H17,” Mituna yelps loudly. He’s fumbling stupidly with a control, having to look between it and the screen frequently. He’s losing terribly to Kurlos. None of this is unusual. Your brother not saying anything about all this very ‘triggering’ stufff is a new one, though. He’s just watching quietly like he’s interested or something.

“You okay, KK?” Sollux asks. You wipe your mouth off on your sleeve and nod stubbornly. Kankri looks back to you. You’re starting to get worried about him.

“WHAT KANKRI?” you snap pointedly. He frowns and opens his mouth as if he’s going to scold you, but he doesn’t. Instead he rolls his eyes and turns back to the tv. It pisses you off. “WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?” It comes out more vicious than you meant.

“K4NKR1 15 571LL R3C0V3R1NG,” Mituna informs you between all his button mashing. “H15 70NGU3 15 R34LLY 5W0LL3N R1GH7 N0W.” You should have known that. It’s just, you’ve been seeing less and less of him lately.

“OH,” you say because what else are you supposed to. Kankri doesn’t look at you. You’re an awful brother. “SORRY,” and you mean it. He continues to not reply, or even look at you, creating a tension in that air once again remedies by Mr. Captor. God you love him sometimes.

“Tuna! IΨ your moirail Ψtaying for dinner?” he calls from the kitchen.

“Y35!” Mituna yells back, still stupidly mashing buttons like it’s going to help him. Mr. Captor doesn’t ask you or Kankri. Sometimes the only reason you stay is because you physically can’t leave and you’re pretty sure Mr. Captor is often behind it.

“Giive me that,” Sollux finally says, taking the controler from his brother. Mituna frowns. The group of you end up watching Sollux and Kurlos go at it for the next twenty minutes. It’s a terrible waste of time that you’ll never get back. You’re sure they’d go longer, but Kurlos is more interested in food than playing an even game with Sollux. Fortunately, Sollux is also more interested in food.

You almost get away, too. Almost is not good enough. Kankri, as it turns out, is still very much Kankri, and stands in the pathway from the kitchen stubbornly. You can understand, though. Kankri has this insistent need to have ‘family meals’ that you never thought you’d miss. No one really argues with him, though, and simply piles around the seldom used Captor table. Kankri still can’t talk so at least you’re saved from that.

Mr. Captor’s made soup. Actually, you think he made solid food first, then blended it into soup for your brother and Kurlos. If he did, you don’t want to know about it. It’s pretty good and you have no complaints. You’re actually becoming rather fond of honey at this point. It beats fish at any rate.

Halfway through, Kurlos stops. He gets up and he leaves. You don’t think anything of it, of course, because Kurlos is always really weird. This is no exception. Mituna, on the other hand, does.

“KURL05?” He follows, which leads Mr. Captor to follow them and suddenly everyone’s following Kurlos back into the living room. You already know exactly what’s going on here. By now, you are in no way surprised. Kurlos stands in front of the window and you all gather around him to peer across the street at your house. Yep. There’s Kanaya, starting at your house for reasons you still don’t understand.

You’re officially confused now. Everyone knows you're at Sollux’s house now, especially Kanaya. Maybe they really aren’t after you? You glance towards Kankri, but he doesn’t appear put off by this even slightly. All you can do is watch as the other Maryams appear. Then the Pyropes. If that wasn’t creepy enough, the Serkets follow up. Then there’s Jane Crocker and her grandfather and Harley and her grandfather.

There is a full on mob outside of your house. You know your dad’s home, but he wisely doesn’t come out. She doesn’t come out either. Again, none of them actually do anything which just makes it so much creepier. They don’t stay there long, though, because you can already hear sirens. She’s called the police on them. You know it was her because your dad, stupid as it is, would rather be beaten by a mob than actually call the cops on any of his friends. As much as you would hate to admit, all of these people are family friends in one way or another.

Mr. Captor shoos you all away from the window before you can see anything happen. You can make a smart guess and assume they all fled before the police arrived. You’re too nervous to eat now. What if she thinks you’re behind this? Or Kankri? What if she sends the police over here to fetch you? You don’t want to leave. You especially don’t want to leave because if she thinks this is you, she’ll undoubtedly do something awful.

_You want your dad to be happy don’t you? He’s happy when I’m happy Karkat and this will make me very happy._

You can not eat now. You are physically sick. You have to excuse yourself from the table and retreat to the bathroom to vomit up what you had already eaten. Generally, you’re not a person to be easily shaken or made anxious, but she does it. Every time without fault, she makes you irrationally nervous. Nervous enough to make you ill.

“You want two talk about iit?” Sollux murmurs from the doorway. You growl in the back of your throat.

“CAN’T I GET TWO FUCKING MINUTES OF PEACE?”

“Maybe iin a room wiith a door on iit,” he reminds you. Just because he’s right doesn’t make you any less annoyed about it. You rinse your mouth out in the sink and Sollux just hovers in the doorway. He’s waiting for an answer, you know, but you don’t quite want to give one. There’s nothing to talk about. There’s nothing you want to talk about. He doesn’t ask you again.

The pair of you return to his room, as you often do. You check out the window carefully. There’s a police car in front of your house, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to have anything to do with you right now. Otherwise, she would have already right? Sollux touches your back. He continues to not say anything to you. This is probably for the best, after all. If you don’t talk, you can’t fuck anything up.

He runs his hand under your shirt, obviously in search of something. He finds your scars. There aren’t as many on your back, generally you’re not stupid enough to turn your back on her. You have some grub scars, though, and a set of streaks where she’s clawed you in one of the very few times she got too intimate. If she hugs you, it’ll only to get her claws into you. She pecked you on the cheek once and then fucking bit you. If you have the choice, you stay at least her arm’s length away from her. You usually don’t have a choice.

Sollux traces the strikes with his fingers, his nails gently graze your skin. It feels odd to be touched so gently, like you’re not supposed to be. And you’re not! You’re not some fucking fragile little thing! You shove Sollux away again.

“KNOCK IT OFF.”

“And the reward for mo2t romantiic goe2 to Karkat Vanta2,” Sollux scoffs, rolling his eyes and making towards his husktop again. Well now you kind of feel bad. You weren’t trying to ruin anything. Not that you actually have to try at all to ruin things ever. You’re like the worse secondary character in a movie. Instead of being the sweet, savvy one that gets all the girls and boys, you’re the socially inept one that comically ends up with some mentally challenged blonde human.

You try to recover.

Apologising would just be awkward, so you just kind of yank his chair away from his desk. Sollux looks over his glasses at you pointedly and you almost lose your nerve. You have to settle yourself down before you do anything else. Bashing teeth with your matesprit[?] is not something you want to do. He’s probably fucking laughing at you.

Even so, he rests his hands on your waist loosely and waits patiently. Well probably not patiently, but he waits. Then you remember that a good deal of your face is still bandaged and almost lose your nerve yet again. Then you bash your teeth against Sollux’s. So, in all, everything went better than expected.

“Fuck! KK!” Sollux hisses, but he doesn't pull away. In fact, his grip on your waist only tightens. Unfortunately, many trolls your age have already mastered the ability to avoid problems like this. You have not. Actually, you’re pretty sure kissing isn’t even a troll thing rather it’s something picked up from the humans over years of co-existing. You’ve also had the worst luck with relationships ever. So. Yeah.

Sollux pressed one of his hands to his mouth and checks to make sure there isn’t any blood. Thankfully, you didn’t maim him. He sighs dramatically, takes your face in his hand, and kisses you properly.

You love it.

You mean, his tongue is kind of weird, yeah, and you’ll probably continue to be a little creeped out when you accidently catch your tongue between it. And he keeps nicking you with his teeth that might be even stupider than yours actually. And his nails are irritating the still healing cuts on your neck. And it tastes like you just stuck your tongue in his fucking hive; honey, copper, and all. And your head’s bent awkwardly to match his height in the chair.

But still. You really do love it.

When you pull away, he lets you go.

“2o, mate2priit2?” he asks nonchalantly. You’re not sure if he’s asking because he doesn’t know or because he know you won’t.

“YEAH,” you answer, trying to be just as nonchalant. You don’t pull it off as well.

“Cool.”

There’s a little bit of sunshine peeking through your storm clouds. God that was stupid as fuck. What’s wrong with you? You’re glad no one else can see this. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's some fluffy. because you guises are going to hate me for the next chapter. i'm so sorry.


	5. Sollux: Accept Fate

Kankri needed some things from home and Mituna is basically useless at gathering any amount of items, so you offered to help him out. Well, you didn’t so much as offer as you were kind of insisted into it. You don’t mind all that much.

Your name is SOLLUX CAPTOR and you’ve just made a huge mistake. You’re not sure what made you think she wouldn’t go after you. Perhaps you assumed she wasn’t stupid enough to, especially when you're a very powerful psionic and your father is many times more powerful than you. Or maybe you figured even if she did attack you, you’d be in a position to protect yourself.

To be fair, you generally have a very strong sense of impending doom. It’s saved you many times in the past, actually. Not in any significant way, but maybe that’s because you generally stopped when this sense told you to. Today you did not stop.

You did not stop as you walked across the street and straight into the tiger’s den. However, when you stop to think about it, it’s better that you hadn’t because if you hadn’t and it had been Kankri, or even Karkat, that stepped through that door, they would have been dead. In that way, you guess you’re lucky you ignored your natural instinct to flee if anything even feels slightly off.

Your memory gets a little fuzzy after you enter the Vantas house. You were rifling through Kankri’s room in search for his ridiculous black box when you heard a noise from down the hall. It started out really low pitched but it bugged the fuck out of you. Then it got higher and sharper and _painful_.

Then you blacked out.

So, yeah, you’re quite confused when you wake up. You’re not entirely sure what happened, but you have a good idea. Feferi mentioned to you once a story about how there used to be a horrorterror that domained over the troll species. It was killed or banished or never existed or something. You would quite gladly bet money on the last one. There’s a bit of the story that interested you, though, especially now; the noise that this creature supposedly emitted that could kill every troll in the universe if it so wanted to.

This was the only plausible part of her story. Trolls have a certain sensitivity that humans don’t that can lead to severe internal bleeding, coma, and death. The upside being, it is not an easily produced noise. The downside being, it’s not completely impossible.

It’s all too suddenly brought to your attention that you’ve been cut open and maybe, in fact, you haven’t been ‘out for a couple’. You feel bandage when you reach to rub your sore chest and it’s dark, but not proper ‘night dark’, more along the lines of ‘your eyes are closed’ dark when in fact you’re positive you're eyes are very open.

You’re kind of freaking out. The drugs are probably preventing you from honestly flipping your shit, though. You think it’s drugs, at least. You can feel a needle in your skin and you do feel a little _off_.

“50LLUX!”

“Miituna?” Your tongue’s sort of heavy in your mouth and it slurs out more than you would have hoped. You can’t actually see your brother, but you hear the thump of what is definitely his helmet against something hard. “Are you alriight?”

“D4D! H3’5 4W4K3!” he says like that’s a surprise. You hear several more thumps, some of which aren’t from Mituna. You don’t think, anyways. You’d actually greatly like to be informed of what’s happening, so you try not to say anything yet.

“Ψollux!” Yes. You are Sollux. Hello. You are here.

“Dad,” you answer calmly. You’ve lived with your family long enough to recognise your father’s weird pronunciation of ‘s’s and your brother’s anything. You don’t need to see them for this.

“How are you feeling?” he asks and you feel a little irritated. What are you supposed to say exactly? You have no idea where you are, or where for that matter, and you’re on drugs.

“Aliive?”

“Well yeΨ,” he says in that condescending fashion that’s quietly telling you he’s not in any mood to put up with your shit right now.

“Uh, bliind apparently.”

“Y0UR 3Y35 RUP7UR3D!”

“0h. Awe2ome.” That was definitely a thing that needed to happen and you needed to know about. There is nothing you wanted more than to know that in those exact words.

“Mituna,” your dad sighs. “I will handle the talking, thank you.”

“50RRY.”

“Ii2 Karkat 0kay? And Kankrii,” you stick on as an afterthought. You’re worried about him, too, sure, but he’s not your immediate concern.

“They’re both fine,” your father assures you. It does, surprisingly, make you feel a touch better about your current predicament. “You took the full impact of it. You’re lucky to be alive.” You don’t believe it’s luck. She’s just smart enough not to kill you. It’s almost too bad. You hear dream bubbles are nice.

“There waΨ a lot of internal bleeding. Karkat and Kankri donated blood for you. You Ψhould thank them,” he insists. You can’t be mad at them and you’re certainly not. This is no one’s fault but your own, and her’s. Mainly her’s and she will be paying for it dearly.

“You’re probably never going to Ψee again,” he adds on, lowering his voice as if it will make things better if you don’t hear it. It does not but surprisingly, you’re rather okay with this. You’d prefer if it hadn’t happened, of course, but a part of you has always known something horrible would happen to you eventually. You can just hope that this is it and you won’t end up like your brother or father.

“How long have Ii been out?” you ask, avoiding any acknowledgment of what he’s telling you.

“Nearly a week. They have to take you back in for Ψurgery again tomorrow.” There is nothing you want to do better tomorrow than that. So that’s awesome. “Ψhe’Ψ Ψtill here,” he says ambiguously. Oh, you knew that. Of course she’s still here. She think’s she’s accomplished something. It would be hilarious if you weren’t in the hospital.

It’s another week before they release you from the hospital. It’s actually pretty difficult to get used to not having your sight. At the rate you’re going, you might need a helmet more than Mituna does. Your dad has to guide you to to the car by your arm and Ms Maryam’s fussing over you like no one’s business. You don’t mind it so much. You just want to get home so you can check on Karkat. You haven’t heard from him since you woke up and while Mituna assures you nothing particularly bad has happened, you know Karkat probably blames himself for this.

Kanaya has given you a cane, courtesy of Terezi, but it doesn’t help you much. In fact, all you’ve really done so far is whack yourself in the ankles with it. You get to sit in the backseat between Kanaya and your brother. You don’t mind considering you can’t see and would probably actually get car sick with all the medication in you. You don’t think you’ll miss seeing much.

However, you did kind of need that to play your games. You’re going to be kind of bummed out about that. You can probably find a way around that. Kanaya is quietly telling you where you are throughout the ride. You don’t need it, but you’re not going to stop her.

You end up having to stand at the end of the sidewalk when you arrive, poking around at the ground carefully. Ms Maryam and your father are talking. Well you say talking. Ms Maryam is hissing at him and he’s making these weird submissive noises. You don’t blame him, really, the Maryams can be scary.

You get impatient. You want to check on Karkat for yourself, if he’ll even talk to you. You swish your cane around carefully and hit the back of Mituna’s ankles. It surprising how much you can already work out on your own. The Maryams are both in skirts and your father’s legs are not that small. Mituna looks at you, which you simply know by instinct, and kind of nudges you in the right direction. You manage to follow the sidewalk with relative ease, swishing your cane along the way as to not veer off into the grass. You’re not sure if this is actually how you’re supposed to use this thing, but whatever.

You reach the single stupid step and manage over it without tripping yourself before coming to the door. You stick the end of your cane into the bottom corner of it and jiggle the knob. Of course it’s locked. It couldn’t be not locked. You try to go for your key.

You can not get to your key. You traded modi with Karkat last year some time. You’re current modus has been very good to you considering your excellent hacking abilities but in this case, it serves you absolutely no good whatsoever. You have to see to hack and you can’t see. Awesome. You thump your head against the door. The bandages wrapped around you absorb most of the impact.

“Tuna!” you shout in no particular direction. “Tuna,” you repeat for reasons you don’t quite think about. You can hear him sort of fast walk towards you.

“1 G07 17!” he assures you. He does not have it. Kanaya has to come up alongside you to help you get the door open. You’re going to have to change your modus now.

“Do You Need Help Up The Stairs?” Kanaya asks you. You shake your head.

“AA 2aiid 2he would come over to help me out,” you explain, mostly so she won’t feel obligated to help you. You’re pretty sure she’s frowning at you and you know she’s going to wait at the bottom of the stairs until you’re safely in your room. “Ii2n’t Ro2e waiitiing for you?”

“I Have To Wait For My Mother,” she mumbles. “But I Should Probably Make Sure Your Father Is Alright,” she admits. You rather agree with this, especially considering you know for a fact that Ms Maryam has had it just about up to her horns with this sea dweller. At this point, she’s probably blaming your dad, and everyone else, for anything she can. You understand. It’s very frustrating, but you have more patience than that.

You hear the door closed, but you don’t think she’s gone. Mituna’s definitely still in the room, you can actually _hear_  him twitching, but there’s another presence that may or may not actually be there. It doesn’t honestly matter, you decide, and carefully make your way upstairs. With one hand on the railing and the other tapping your cane to measure where you are, it’s not as difficult as you had originally assumed it would be. It’s easier to find your room and you make sure your chair is pointing the right way before you flop yourself in it.

Admittedly, it’s kind of odd to be in your room like this. It doesn’t even really feel like you’re room. The worst part about this is that you won’t be able to help Karkat if he gets hurt again. You say 'if' as if she’s stopped being an asshole since your hospital time. You turn to your computer and carefully tap away.

There’s some things you can manage without needing your sight. You probably shouldn’t, in all honestly, but it just feels too unnatural not to. Really all you want to do is get in contact with Karkat immediately. You fail this completely. Probably because your husktop isn’t even on. You completely regret going for water cooling over a fan. Completely. Fortunately for you, Aradia doesn’t take too long to get over to your house. You know this because she yells at you from downstairs.

“sollux!” What you don’t hear is her come across the room and throw herself completely at you, nearly bringing you, her, and the chair to the ground. You have no idea what prevented this from actually happening. “i’m going to fucking kill you!”

“Plea2e don’t,” you answer blandly.

“you had me worried!” she snaps and squeezes your face between her fingers. You grab her wrist and direct her away.

“Where’2 Karkat?” is your first question obviously.

“with the makara’s” she assures you. You’re going to assume he’s safe there for now. There’s no way she’s going to try to confront Mr. Makara, even if he’s below her on the spectrum. Granted Karkat’s smart enough to actually stay there. Aradia plops herself on your lap and turns you both back towards your husktop. She already knows what you want. You sit back a bit and listen to her clicking and typing about.

“Do you have any extra modii?”

“uh yeah jade thought you’d need a new one so she sent some with me hold on” she murmurs. You have no idea what she’s doing but you’re very suspicious. “okay karkat’s on he’s not going to want to talk to you so i logged into mine!”

“Yeah. 0kay.” Obviously this isn’t going to backfire. She gets out of your lap and you scoot closer to your desk. You hear her fumble with her modi.

apocalypseArisen [AA] has begun trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

CG: HOW’S SOLLUX?

Your husktop yells at you. There’s no way this is going to become tiresome. You turn the volume down a bit.

AA: ii’m fiine  
AA: ii’ll be fiine

carcinoGeneticist [CG] has ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]  
apocalypseArisen [AA] has begun trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

AA: kk don’t avoiid me

carcinoGeneticist [CG] has blocked apocalypseArisen [AA]  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] has unblocked apocalypseArisen [AA]

CG: I’M NOT AVOIDING YOU.  
CG: YOU’VE BEEN IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL.   
AA: yeah. thank2 for vii2iitiing  
CG: THEY WOULDN’T  
CG: THEY WOULDN’T LET ME SEE YOU

He’s lying. You let him.

AA: yeah. 0kay.   
CG: I’M BREAKING UP WITH YOU.  
AA: n0.  
CG: WHAT DO YOU FUCKING MEAN ‘NO’?  
CG: I WASN’T FUCKING ASKING YOU, ASSHOLE.  
CG: THIS IS A THING THAT’S HAPPENING IN THE PRESENT.   
CG: WE WILL NEVER BE IN AN QUADRANT TOGETHER EVER.  
AA: and ii 2aiid n0.  
CG: YOU CAN’T SAY ‘NO’, NOOKSTAIN.  
AA: ii already have  
AA: n0  
AA: look. ii have agaiin.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] has blocked apocalypseArisen [AA]

Aradia helps you equip your new modi and gather all your shit back up while you wait for this to blow over. It’s something similar to morse code, you guess, but uses your already well found knowledge of binary. It’ll be a pain to get used to, but it works. You’ll program something better later.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] has unblocked apocalypseArisen [AA]

CG: I’M FUCKING SERIOUS SOLLUX.  
CG: WE’RE OVER.  
AA: and ii’m not lettiing you break up wiith me becau2e you thiink iit’ll be better for me.  
AA: do you 2eriiou2ly thiink thii2 wouldn’t happen iif ii diidn’t have anythiing two do wiith you?  
CG: YES.  
AA: ii liive diirectly acro22 from you kk and 2he hate2 me.  
AA: the only diifference ii2 that you and your brother would be dead  
AA: and 2he’d probably 2laughter the neiighborhood to hiide her fiilthy track2

You know Aradia can hear, and see, everything. This isn’t anything she doesn’t already know, though. This isn’t anything Karkat doesn’t already know.

CG: SHE WOULDN’T KILL ANYONE.  
AA: are you 2eriiou2?  
AA: you’re telliing me 2he diidn’t kiill me becau2e her con2ciiou2 told her not two?  
AA: ii2 that what you’re tryiing to tell me kk?  
CG: YES.  
AA: you fuckiing liiar  
AA: don’t giive me that bull2hiit  
AA: ii almo2t fuckiing diied and you’re 2tiill playiing thii2 2tupiid fuckiing game  
AA: how can you 2tiill beliieve that now that 2he’2 come after me?  
CG: IT’S TRUE.   
CG: SHE’S NOT A KILLER.   
AA: 0kay  
AA: ii’m done wiith thii2 conver2atiion  
AA: we’re not breakiing up unle22 you giive me a good rea2on  
CG: BECAUSE I SAID SO.  
AA: no  
CG: BECAUSE I FUCKING HATE YOU.  
AA: you hate me half of the tiime  
AA: no  
CG: BECAUSE I CAN’T DATE A BLIND PERSON.  
AA: terezii   
CG: ARG.  
CG: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?  
AA: come over  
CG: I DON’T WANT TO.  
AA: are you iinjured?   
CG: NO.  
AA: 0kjuiprl r ed  
CG: SOLLUX?  
AA: 2orry. knocked the keyboard over.  
AA: plea2e coopme ovwer  
CG: SOLLUX.  
AA: ii need a knoiifght riight now  
CG: KNOCK IT OFF.  
AA: ii haven’t 2een you in two week2  
AA: ii ju2tew ant a ki2  
CG: YOU STUPID DIPSHIT  
AA: kk plea2r

“Get off, AA!”

“i’m getting you laid stop!” Aradia laughs. You try to shove her off but she just hops off your lap and twirls your chair around, disorienting you. You manage to stop yourself, but you have no idea which direction she is, now. You never realised you could actually get dizzy without seeing anything.

AA: ju2t for a few miinute2 then you can leave iif you want  
CG: YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT  
AA: plea2e  
CG: ALRIGHT.  
CG: ALRIGHT JUST STOP.   
CG: FINE.   
CG: I’LL COME OVER.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] has ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

“You’re an a22hole, AA,” you say. You have to admit, though, you are particularly pleased. Not pleased about the way she went about it, but that Karkat actually agreed to see you. If he wants to break up, then fine. If he never wants to see you again, that’s fine, but it has to be because he truly doesn’t and not because he thinks you being around him is going to end up badly for you.

Aradia rolls you back towards your computer. You might just punch her for that. You won’t, but point. She sits in your lap, again, and nobly goes to work.

“i’m going to set up your browser and whatever else i can find to speak” she says as if she could really manage it by herself. While she’s decently sauve at computers, you still have to help her out now and again. You’re only partially listening to her through most of it. Quite honestly, you’ll probably end up using your husktop less and less now.

You listen for the door instead and it plays in your favor. You hear Karkat knock on the door and instantly, Aradia is out of your lap. She sends your chair rolling backwards and you hear her quickly trot back down the stairs. There’s only a small amount of time between hearing the door open and another heavier set of feet come up the stairs. You feel a sort of presence, but it’s no real meaning of anyone being there. You guess it’ll fine tune gradually.

“KK?” You ask your possibly empty room. You hear Karkat make a strangled noise. You know you look like shit and you kind of don’t want him to see you like this because you know he’s blaming himself, but it’s too late now. You hold a hand out to beckon him over to you. He eventually appears in your hand and you wrap it around his waist to get some sort of sight on him.

“Ii’m 0kay, KK,” you assure him. He plucks at the bandages on your forehead pointedly and you grab his hand in yours. “2top. Iit’2 fiine.”

“STOP STARING AT ME LIKE THAT,” he growls.

“Ii’m not 2tariing at you. Ii liiterally can’t 2ee,” you explain again. You ran your hands up his waist, searching for any new wounds that she might have caused while you were out. You can’t tell through his shirt though so you dip them under to touch his skin. He doesn’t stop you. There doesn’t appear to be anything new, but it’s hard to tell with the wounds he, relatively recently, reopened just now getting around to healing up.

Each little ridge under your fingers seems a lot worse now. Karkat grasps your upper arms when you reach his neck. You take this as a sign there’s something wrong. You pull one hand from under his shirt to feel along his neck. You come across bandages. Holy shit. Karkat’s migrated closer to you now. You find the junction at the end and strip them away immediately. They’re not wet- there’s no blood.

Cautiously, almost anxiously, you touch your fingers to his throat. You are not okay with this. There are curved cuts on each side of his throat, angled slightly and still deep despite already starting to heal over. There’s marks are where she’s tried to give him gills, you recognize them almost immediately. You squeeze Karkat’s waist in your free hand.

“STOP. THAT HURTS,” he whines. You remove your hand slowly. Something will be done about her soon. That doesn’t make you feel any better, though.

Karkat kisses you. It’s not with much more ease than last time, but at least he doesn’t gouge you this time. It’s even more foreign when you can’t see. This does make you feel a little better. He doesn’t hate you. He grabs your horns, his fingers fitting between the pairs easily, and you loop your fingers in his jeans. You’re aware he finds your tongue odd because he keeps doing this weird thing with his tongue that is more than just him not understand what to do.

You don’t mind. He backs away from you and you automatically stand. He doesn’t let you go, though, and you naturally have to follow him. There’s a huge difference for you. It’s not that you feel helpless, simply that you have little control in this situation. You think you’re alright with this. Karkat doesn’t do anything, however, and you take it upon yourself to. It’s awkward leaning into him when you don’t know exactly where he is, so you just sort of nuzzle his neck with your face and he chitters against you. You feel his scar brush your cheek and adjust slightly to press your mouth to it.

He’s moving again, and you follow this time just to maintain contact. He stops abruptly and you understand that he’s backed himself into the wall. Whichever wall that is, it doesn’t really matter. You run your tongue over the cuts on his neck. His hands are running over the still covered parts of you. The remaining scars from your surgeries aren’t quite healed up enough for you to unwrap them, unfortunately. You think Karkat can feel the scars through the gauze anyways.

“They 2aiid you donated blood,” you murmur. You feel him stiffen sharply under your touch.

“THEY SAID YOUR DAD WASN’T THE RIGHT TYPE-” he tries to explain.

“And Miituna can’t, Ii know. Ii wa2 ju2t 2ayiing thank2,” you assure him. You couldn’t care less if he’s mutant or not. He relaxes only when you nibble his pulse. “You under2tand that iif you weren’t a mutant, Ii’d probably be iin much more trouble than Ii wa2, riight?” you murmur. “Iif that ii2n’t fate, Ii don’t know what ii2.”

“SHUT UP, STUPID,” he puffs. Yeah, you agree, that was kind of stupid. He’s sliding towards the floor and you just have to move with him, drawing the pair of you into a slightly awkward position easily remedied by Karkat spreading his knees. You’re not sure if this is an invitation or not.

“Are you 2educiing me?” you tease.


	6. Karkat: Pretend like you know what you're doing.

Does he actually have to say it outloud like that? It’s so awkwardly to actually admit to what you want. Awkward for you, anyways. Probably because you’re a terrible virgin. This is a bad idea, your brain vehemently tells you.

“YES,” your mouth stupidly is somehow not attached to said brain. You’re not sure which one is stupider. You’d assume your mouth, but of course your brain doesn’t think itself is stupid. You’re saved from any stupid inevitable thoughts of self awareness by Sollux’s mouth on yours again. Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you’re probably about to lose your virginity to your newly blind matesprite.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times he assures you you’re not a fault, you know you definitely are. You should have gone over there to get Kankri’s stuff. He’s your brother and it’s your house. You have no idea why you’d let Sollux go over there ever. There’s seriously something wrong with you.

“You 2ure, KK?” he asks against you skin, giving you a chance to back out. You almost do. Not that you’re nervous or anything. Because you’re not. It’s just, you’re not sure how well he’s going to respond to you being, well, _red_  down there. You think to yourself. About your blind boyfriend. Who is blind. Okay, yeah, but he already _knows_. That’s basic biology. All the same, you nod aggressively, sort of stabbing him with your chin the process.

Sollux doesn’t say anything more, though. He’s touching you way more than he ever has before and you’re not sure if it’s because he can’t see or because of intimate reason. You try not to think about it, though. If you could not think about anything, you can make it through this without embarrassing yourself. His knees are pressed against the wall behind you and your legs are sort of awkwardly under his, pressing your pelvis firmly against his. It’s sort of embarrassing because your bulge really likes this, you really like this, and you can feel Sollux’s movement in his jeans, too.

He grasps at the hem of your shirt and you pull it off so he doesn’t accidentally hit you. His fingers are exploring your skin again and it’s sort of weird how he’s staring at you. It doesn’t even look like there’s anything wrong with them, though the Captors all have sort of unusual eyes. You chitter mildly, pressing your palms over his eyes. He stops what he’s doing and seems to wait for you to do something more, but you didn’t think this through. It’s definitely weird how you can feel his eyes move under his eyelids.

He pulls your hands away and adjusts the gauze around his head to cover his eyes.

“Better?” he asks. You’re an asshole.

“YEAH,” you agree. He doesn’t seem all that upset over it, though. He’s probably pissed at you. He can stand to look at you when you have stitches in your face but you get uneasy just when he looks at you. He’s not even looking at you because he can’t fucking see.

You don’t know what to do with your hand but you quickly default to grabbing his horns. They’re sharper and smaller than yours, but they’re just as sensitive. He purrs and it immediately entices the same noise from you. It’s really not something that either of you can control, though. His fingers work at the button on your pants, making easy work of them even with his new impairment.

You gasp when his fingers touch your bulge. It’s a completely new sensation from your own hand. Your weird, red tentacle clings to his fingers and leaves bright red marks over his pale grey skin. It’s really gross and you absolutely hate it. You close your eyes.

“Are you 0kay?” he asks. You must have gripped his horns too hard. You nod stiffly. “KK-”

“I’M FINE,” you snap. “JUST KEEP DOING THAT.”

“Glad your manner2 are 2tiill iintact,” he answers.

“KEEP DOING THAT- PLEASE,” you correct sharply. He squeezes slightly and your breath hitches in surprise and pleasure. He undoes his own pants and you open your eyes. Whoa okay. Those are two bulges. He was not joking. Of course you knew that, but it hadn’t actually occurred to you that this should be a concern of yours. He untangles his hand and his bulges wind with yours.

“AH!” Not a problem. Nevermind.

You grip his shoulders tightly, nails digging in but it doesn’t bother him. He won’t be easily injured and neither will you. Sollux pulls at the opening of your jeans, but they don’t open any further. You probably should have taken them off before getting tangled up in this position. You’re too stupid to have thought about that before. Sollux fixes this problem by ripping your jeans at the seams.

“HEY!”

“2orry.” He’s not sorry. You forgive him anyways when he runs his fingers over your nook. It’s completely different, but in a good way. Admittedly, you’re not that hard to please when you are ready to pail, but even so, Sollux’s fingers on you, and in you, are ten times better than your own. His nails scrap you slightly, but you’re literally made for stuff like this and it only sets your nerve endings on fire. You bite your lip to stifle the ugly noises you’re making, but that doesn’t stop your chittering. You try to hold your breath. You succeed up until Sollux slicks one of his tentacles against your nook and you inhale sharply.

He’s grabbing your thighs tightly and his mouth is over the junction of your throat and shoulder, a safe distance from your poorly done ‘gills’. This does help you not have to look at your gross mutant colouring. On the other hand, this is sort of intimate. Way more intimate than you thought it would be. It does make you a little anxious.

“Karkat,” Sollux says. His bulge presses against you and a curve slides into you but he doesn’t _take_  you. You rake his shoulders with your nails. “Can Ii?”

“FUCK. YES,” you insist loudly. Now, you’re not saying you did, but you totally left the door open. You totally left the door open, there’s at least four people downstairs, and your voice carries like a motherfucker. So. That’s a thing that is happening that you now can not stop. You’re going to go ahead and not mention it right this instant. Not that you can, really.

One of Sollux’s bulges slips into you and it’s a foreign feeling. There’s a significant difference between him and the toys you definitely don’t own. You’re not sure if it’s a good thing at this point. It’s actually a little uncomfortable. His second bulge is still tightly wound and tangled with yours, which buries your discomfort if but completely. When it starts to move, it’s a whole other story.

It’s not as harsh as you thought it would be, but that’s probably because it’s Sollux. He presses his hips flush to yours and his bulge twists and turns against the walls of your nook. The sweet pressure is enough to roll your eyes back. And that’s it. That’s all it is and you don’t care because it’s brilliant. His noises nearly match yours and you hope you’re safe to assume that he’s enjoying it just as much.

Your bulges are sliding against each other in little more than a knot and your nook is leaking a ridiculous amount of genetic fluid already that’s just encouraged by his bulge moving in ways that make you shudder. You have your nails in his shoulder still and his fingers are pressing hard enough into the meat of your thighs to bruise later, but it’s so much better from him.

Orgasm hits you hard and you actually feel his shirt rip under your fingers. You hear him growl. The ecstasy doesn’t subside immediately, though, leaving you in a sort of inebriated stupor. You slacken your hands to the crooks of his elbows. The genetic fluid overflowing from your nook is surprisingly nice, but it’s making a weird, mucky orange colour on the floor. There’s a terrible mess but you don’t care right now.

The subdued movements between the two of you are very nice and calming, helping ride out the torturously long effects of your species mating rituals. Sollux’s tongue brushes your ear. You’re not sure if it’s intentional.

“Thii2 ii2 uncomfortable, KK. Ii’m goiing two have two move,” he tells you. That is the last thing you want right now. Still, you have to help him adjust without injuring one or both of you. He sits with his back against the wall and you shift your hips to make yourself more comfortable on his bulge.

It’s quiet. Just as you’re about to relax, however, you notice that your chest is covered in what is certainly not genetic fluid. It’s blood. You quickly discover that it’s blood seeping through Sollux’s shirt and the bandages under it. You shove your hands against his shoulders by mistake, putting you two at a distance. Sollux grunts.

“SOLLUX,” you snap.

“What?” he grumbles back.

“YOU’RE BLEEDING,” you inform him sharply. He touches the spot slightly and rubs his fingers together to make sure for himself. It doesn’t look like it’s causing him any pain, though.

“Iit’2 fiine,” he says like an asshole. You’re going to end up killing your matesprit yet. He nuzzles your neck and holds your wrist calmly. “Ii’m 0kay,” he assures you again. You wish he’d stop saying that. He’s not going to act concerned over it so you’re not going to bug him about it. You manage to relax. You rest your chin on his shoulder and he rubs around one of your nubby horns calmly.

His bulge is still fitted snugly in your nook, but it’s not really sexual at this point. You should have brought a bucket. You didn’t actually think Sollux would want to pail with you, though? You actually have no idea why you thought that now. He is your matesprit, and ridiculously red for you beside that. Plus, you know for a fact he’s pailed with several people. And a human, possibly? So in retrospect, your concern was kind of irrational.

“hey”

You stiffen.

“Kk,” Sollux says slowly. “Diid you clo2e the door?”

“he did not” Aradia assures him. He doesn’t make to move, though, and neither do you. She’s his moirail so this is hardly taboo. “i wasn’t going to interrupt but something’s going on at your house, karkat”

You do not care right now. You are actually happy right now. Happy and still drifting on the lows of your orgasm. You do not give two fucks what she is doing across the street. You just keep your head against Sollux’s shoulder, facing away from Aradia. She walks to the window and leans against the wall casually.

“equius and his brother are out there right now oh and there’s mr. zahhak” she explains like it’s no big deal. You continue not to be concerned right now. There’s definitely something else going on here and you have no idea what it is and until it causes someone to injure you, you’ve decided not to worry about it too much. There’s nothing you can do about it. You do find it strange no one was outside of your house while Sollux was in the hospital, though. Your suspicions are unheard.

“gamzee's there” So it’s definitely not against you. Gamzee’s your moirail and even though he does have his moments, he wouldn’t do anything to seriously bring harm to you. “kurlos mr. makara” If ‘her highness’ isn’t quaking in her boats now, you feel sorry for her.

“eridan” Now you’re a little confused again. “cronus and not even with his human on there’s mr. ampora” You sort of want to see this for yourself. She’s going to be flipping her shit. “she’s coming out” See?

“i think she’s asking what the amporas are doing whoops there’s john and his dad i think that’s his grandpa? she’s slowly backing away” Sollux is running his fingers over the scabs on your neck again and you’re trying not to make any noise so you can hear Aradia.

“rose is here and mother lalonde the mighty sea dweller woman is now fleeing back into your house with her back turned and her pace casual i guess fourteen turns out to be just a few too many for her your dad’s coming out everyone’s gone he looks really confused”

“Everyone really hate2 her,” Sollux mumbles.

“it’s late” Aradia says. “i’m going to go crash in mituna’s recuperacoon”

“Niight, AA,” Sollux tells her.

“NIGHT,” you echo distantly.

“night you lovebirds” she coos excessively.

“Leave, AA,” Sollux says loudly. She closes the door after her, fortunately. He waits a bit after she’s gone before saying anything. Not that you particularly mind. “You 2hould probably 2tay the niight.”

“YEAH,” you agree. You’re not about to go home so she can take her demented anger out on you.

“Probably a couple niight2,” he continues.

“JUST ONE OR TWO,” you agree, though you both know he’s offering more than that. He appears to be content with remaining on the floor for now, but you also know he’s been in a weird human bed in the hospital for the last two weeks and would probably enjoy a good sleep in his sopor for once. “SHOULD I- GET OFF?”

“Iif you want,” he answers. You don’t mind so much sitting with his bulge in you, but you’re also tired and don’t want to risk falling asleep, so you reluctantly untangle yourself from him. These pants are just absolutely ruined, ripped and soaked thoroughly. They’re just pants. You remove them and genetic fluid drips down your leg.

Sollux guides himself up using the wall and you pull him in the direction of his pod. He presses his hands against the side of it carefully before leaning against it to pull his clothes off. You hover nearby. You guess you don’t have to be worried about him thinking you’re worried about him. He can’t see you.

“2orry about your clothe2,” he says.

“YOU OWE ME A NEW PAIR OF PANTS, ASSHOLE,” you snap back. He scoffs a laugh. Knowing your matesprit as well as you do, you were expecting him to be aggressive at least half of the time. He’s still treating you like your fragile or something, that fucker. You watch as he unwraps all the gauze and some of his stitches are bleeding, but you guess he’s right and they’re not that bad. His scars are different from yours, straighter and cleaner. His are deliberate, after all.

He stops and reaches out in the direction he thinks you are. He’s not even close. You place yourself in his reach anyways and he kisses you again.

And yeah. You’re happy.

You make sure he’s safely in the sopor before joining him on the opposite side. You won’t say it, and you’re not really sure you have to, but you’re glad he’s okay. She’s out of her god damn mind if she thinks you’re going to let her off on this. She’s insane.

You wake up to Sollux cursing, his words easily reaching you through the sopor. How is he always awake before you? You poke your head out the top.

“2hiit! Fuck!” He’s on his hands and knees though you’re not sure if he got down there or tripped himself, searching out blindly for something. He’s not anywhere near anything, however, so you’re not sure what he’s reaching for. He’s already knocked a lot of stuff onto the floor and ejected several things from his sylladex. You’re amazed he’s still not near anything.

“LOOKS LIKE MR. COOL GUY ISN’T IN HIS ELEMENT THIS MORNING.”

“2hut up, KK,” he answers off puttingly. He sits up. He’s managed to get dressed somehow already, though. You climb out carefully and walk around him. “AA ju2t got out the 2hower.”

“NGH.” You don’t run into her in the hall, or anyone else, so you don’t bother with it. Sollux has gone when you return and you borrow some of his clothes. You can hide most of it under your sweater. You’re matesprits now, though, so you guess it doesn’t matter what people think of you wearing his clothes.

You head downstairs to where Mr. Captor’s made breakfast for everyone. You can’t look anyone here in the eye ever again. You sit beside Sollux, who is basically just stabbing himself in the face with a spoon rather than eating. Aradia’s laughing at him. Mituna and Latula are being sickeningly cuddly.

You accidentally look at Mr. Captor when he puts food down in front of you. He looks about as awkward as you feel. The two of you decide not to say anything to each other. It’s not like you’re humans, after all. Neither of you are going to get pregnant or something and as far as trolls are concerned, you’re both of age. That’s really no excuse for you to have stupidly left the door open. You will never live that down.

The honk outside alerts you to the Makara’s arrive to pick you up. Sollux nudges your arm slightly.

“I HAVE TO- SOMEWHERE ELSE- FIRST,” you explain. Sollux stares near you. You feel obligated to point him in the right direction, but you don’t. Aradia does for him.

“KK-”

“I HAVE BETTER FUCKING THINGS TO DO THAT TROT AFTER YOU, YOU KNOW,” you snap.

“w3 should g3t go1ng to, tun4,” Latula says distantly. You just wait for them to leave, knowing Sollux is more than a little irritated with you. Just because you’re his matesprit now doesn’t mean you can’t make your own choices. You wait a few minutes after they’re gone before captchaloguing your backpack.

“Be Ψafe,” Mr. Captor says firmly.

That’s not going to happen.


	7. Sollux: End on a Joke

It’s not like Karkat can really lie so easily to you but rather there’s nothing you can do to stop him when he’s made up his mind. You hadn’t tried, no, but you don’t need to to know it would have been a waste of time and effort anyways. That doesn’t mean you don’t regret it.

Karkat doesn’t come to school until after lunch. You hear Gamzee make an unhappy noise and John gasps. You raise your head but you have no idea which way you’re supposed to be looking. Someone kind of directs your head in the right direction.

Karkat sits besides you, wedging himself between you and Gamzee and shoving the juggalo out of the way.

“what happened to you, karkat!” John asks loudly right into your ear. You are _not_ friends right now. However, you were right and something’s up with Karkat. When isn’t there anything up with Karkat? And when doesn’t it have anything to do with her?

“NOTHING,” he hisses back as if that will simply void everything said up until now. You swat your hand around until you find his face and he flinches at the slightest of touches. His face is bruised badly and swollen even to the touch. Obviously the best thing to do after she almost killed you was to go and confront her. In a way, you guess this is a good thing. He's not trying to defend her anymore. Also a bad thing because, you know, he could have died. You’re kind of annoyed at how pleased he is with himself, too, if his face is anything to go by.

He’s not smiling or anything, but you know when he’s smugly pleased, eyesight or not. You just hope he drew blood. Ultimately, you decide not to say anything about it. No one else says anything, either. They’re all in on it, after all. Karkat won’t get another chance.

It’s even more difficult to get any peace and quiet now. Throughout the entire day, either Aradia, or Terezi, or Karkat and Gamzee are nearby. Not nearby as in their own personal bubbles, but nearby as in _in_  your personal bubble. Half the time, you don’t mind, but the other half you just really want them to fuck off. You understand why they don’t, though. You’re still new at this and the amount of objects you have run into is greater than the amount you haven’t run into.

Fortunately, it’s over sooner than later and you can go home and wash your mouth out. As helpful as Terezi is, you’re done licking things. You’re so fucking done. You only finally get to be alone with Karkat again on the walk home. He has to hold your arm the entire way home, mostly so you don’t walk into the street, and you can tell how much he’s limping just from this. He assures you, it’s just a bruise and you guess he couldn’t have walked otherwise. Troll or not.

Latula’s in your living room with your brother again. You’re pretty sure it’s at Mituna’s insistence since they usually occupy the Pyrope hive instead. Ms Pyrope really likes your brother for reasons you don’t really understand but whatever. You’re actually pretty sure this makes Karkat _more_  uncomfortable, but you prefer them here, too.

“h3y boys,” Latula greets you. You could already smell her, though, and that weird perfume she wears.

“Hey. Where’2 dad?”

“1N 7H3 K17CH3N,” Mituna tells you. You don’t know where else you expected him to be. It’s really just habitual at this point. You flop down on the couch, distinctly away from the sickeningly cuddly matesprits on the other side. Karkat joins you and you hear him drop his bag on the floor with a heavy thud.

“MR. KEEPER GAVE US AN EXTENSION,” he informs you blandly. Heaven forbid you not complete a writing assignment. At this point, you can’t even remember what the stupid book is about. You’ve been through sort of a lot lately. So Karkat has to read the previous chapter for you and you’re not listening even a little bit, but you’re confident in your ability to half ass an essay. Besides, you think your attention is much more suited to lavishing his battered skin with attention from your mouth. He keeps making these fussing noises, but he doesn’t seem to want you to stop.

You guess he smells kind of red? Fuck it, you don’t even know what that means. You said you would try, but what exactly are you supposed to do? What are colours even supposed to smell like? It’s not like you’re just in a constant state of smelling like honey or something, regardless of what Terezi insists.

Your swell time is interrupted by the door. This is weird of itself, considering most of your friends have gotten to the point where they just let themselves in and those who don’t, don’t come over without being invited. You feel the couch move as Mituna gets up.

“9h hell9 Mituna. Is y9ur father h9me?”

Suddenly your lap is minus one Karkat. You reach out for him, but he’s completely out of your ‘sight’. You have no idea if he’s hiding or confronting his father and each seem equally likely.

“0H. UH.” You feel like Mituna is probably looking to you for help, but you’re not fully sure what’s happening. “Y34H. D4D!”

Mr. Vantas doesn’t come in and you hear your dad’s footsteps come across the floor. He pauses slightly before passing you. Karkat’s probably behind the couch. You consider pretending like you're not eavesdropping, but decide Mr. Vantas probably wouldn’t notice, anyways. Somehow the fact his pretty little matesprit nearly murdered you has glided over his head, after all.

“Ah. Hello, ΨignleΨ,” you dad says like he’s just as unsure of this visit.

“Hell9. S9rry to 69ther, I just came 9ver t9 6ring my s9n h9me," Mr. Vantas says and haha that's not happening.

“He’Ψ no trouble. It’Ψ alright. He can Ψtay here,” your dad promises.

“I’m actually leaving f9r the weekend, s9 I w9uld prefer him t9 6e h9me.”

“I think I’m capable of watching him for a couple dayΨ,” your dad insists firmly. He doesn’t want to budge, but it doesn’t sound like Mr. Vantas wants to, either.

“While I’m sure that’s true, Psii9niic, that’s n9t what I want.”

“You don’t truΨt me with your Ψon all of a Ψudden?” you father insists far more sharply than can be called friendly.

“Are y9u quite sure he’s mine? Are y9u sure y9u haven’t mysteriously taken him in as y9ur 9wn?”

“I’m juΨt Ψaying, I don’t underΨtand why you’d rather he be alone than here.”

“He w9n’t 6e al9ne,” Mr. Vantas promises shortly. This only manages to steel your father’s want to not let that happen.

“Kankri can Ψtay here, aΨ well. There iΨ plenty of room.”

“Karkat is here, isn’t he?”

“And I really think he Ψhould Ψtay here.”

“I d9n’t like the influence y9u’ve 6een having 9n Karkat, Psii9niic,” Mr. Vantas finally snaps. Well, you’re suddenly in a very dangerous position. You consider moving. Latula and Mituna have the same idea by the movement of the sofa.

“ExcuΨe me?”

“I d9n’t like y9u exp9sing my s9n t9 y9ur l9w 6l99dedness.” She has her claws in deep, that’s obvious.

“DAD,” Karkat says suddenly, his voice sure enough appearing from behind the couch. “I’M COMING. JUST FUCKING STOP,” he shouts in an annoyed fashion. He grabs his bag, jostling your leg in the process, and drags his feet towards the door.

“C9me 9n, Karkat,” Mr. Vantas says. You hear your dad growl just before he slams the door. Seconds later, there’s the sound of the side table being broken and you feel Mituna flinch his entire body. Your father had an issue with Sea Dwellers before, but you’re not sure he can handle much more of this. Unlike a certain someone, however, your father would never take it out on you or Mituna.

You have to listen to him angrily make cake for the next two hours. It’s a lot like how he normally makes cake, only there’s cursing and he’s more confused than usual. Typically, it’d be pretty funny. Unfortunately, you’re in as good of a mood as your father at the moment. It’s only when you’re informed that Mr. Vantas is leaving does anyone’s mood elevate.

“looks l1k3 h3’s gon3,” Latula says to no one in particular. Mituna quickly hops up from the couch and you pick up your cane to join them. You’re staring at a wall, but it’s not like you can see, anyways. Your dad scoots you over to stand in front of the window. He opens the window and immediately there’s a cool breeze.

“Yoo! )(oo!”

“yo beach!”

You wish you could see for this. You can only hear the faintest sounds from across the way, what is probably the door opening and closing again. She’s coming out because the only people higher on the hemospectrum than her are, in fact, the Peixes.

“P-princess? Wha d’are ya doin’-” You hear her gasp.

“Between the prongΨ,” your dad mumbles. For once in your life, you wish Meenah wasn’t so accurate with that stupid two times threedent. You stopped trying to be nonviolent about this about the same time she tried to kill you.

“i heard you were fuckin’ with my little swedish fishes”

“Wot? The mutan’s?”

“‘what the mutants?’ yes the mutants. did you think we didn’t notice?” That’s Roxy’s voice. Furthermore, that’s Roxy’s _sober_  voice. She’s really upset. Good. “did you really think you could stale from the lalondes and no one would notice? steal. did you really think you could steal _that_ , then _use it_  and no one would fucking care? did you really just think you were entitled to anything you wanted? i would descale my own matesprit for stealing from me imagine what i want to do to you.”

“Roxy please!”

“no let her go punch her in the gills roxy” You assume the sharp gasp that follows is Roxy punching her in the gills.

“Now now! We s)(ould )(andle t)(is properly! T)(ere’s no need for violence!”

“nah! beach tried to give karkat gills fuck her up roxy” That would be the noise of Roxy’s fistkind in her facekind. Your father begins to lead you outside by your arm.

“roxy” Mama Lalonde says.

“Glub! Now t)(en! I )(ave an offer for you, Ms Vantas! My offer is t)(at you leave and never )(ave contact with any of t)(e Vantas ever again!” Feferi informs pleasantly.

“And wot if I dun wanna?” she says. You feel she’s obligated at this point to ask by the mass gathering around her.

“then ya get to sleep with the fuckin’ fishes” Meenah snaps her teeth together in punctuation.

“And that’s not some cute sea dweller thing. We will murder you,” Ms Leijon growls.

“No+w please, Ms Redglare will kindly esco+rt yo+u a safe distance away fro+m here. Yo+u may no+t take yo+ur belo+ngings, we will be pawning them to+ pay fo+r ho+spital bills as well as to+ replace the items yo+u bro+ke o+r have thro+wn o+ut.” You hear someone yank Meenah’s 2x3dent free.

"Bite me," she snaps.

“1 c4n not guarant33 your s4f3ty outs1de of th3 c1ty,” you hear Ms Pyrope say as your father begins to lead you back home. You can guess she's less being escorted and more being dragged. None of you are ever going to speak of this again. Nothing like a good old fashion passive aggressive lynching to bring a community closer.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY LAWN?”

“Co+me o+n, Karkat. Let’s go+ inside, hun.”

“WHERE IS SHE GOING?”

“Ms Leijo+n and I will watch yo+u and yo+ur bro+ther until yo+ur dad co+mes ho+me.”

“I’M SO CONFUSED.”

If there’s one thing you’re sure of, everyone is going to sleep a little better tonight. You certainly do. It’s been far more of an ordeal than you had thought, but she’s gone now and you have no concern for the future at the moment. She’s not going to go against the ‘princesses’ after all. Even if she would, she wouldn’t honestly try to go against all of you. These are things you’re sure of.

The next day Karkat comes over again, but he doesn’t say anything about it. The two of you finish up your project and spend a couple mind numbing hours playing video games. You congratulate Karkat thoroughly on his ability to beat his blind matesprit repeatedly in a visual game by filling a pail with him. With the door closed, this time.

For the first time in a long time, your dad asks if Karkat wants to stay for dinner, but he can’t. Ms Maryam wants him home before too late and your dad tells him he better be off, then. He only hesitates because he still wants to know what happened but he doesn’t want to ask. Not that anyone would acknowledge it. Trolls don’t really have families. After all, it’s quite possible you’re not even related to the people you live with, like all troll ‘families’. So there’s no way most of you want to admit to helping another troll. Plus, it was sort of illegal. You say sort of because technically, in the troll community, the Peixes are actually princesses and can basically do whatever they want. The humans kind of get upset about that, though.

When Mr. Vantas comes back, he’s confused to say the least. No one tells him the truth, not even Kankri, and from his point of view, it probably does seem a little odd that she disappeared with all of her stuff into thin air. Ms. Leijon comforts him. He apologises to the Maryams, and even your father, and he actually appears lucid for once.

You have to wonder if she really did have him on something. He never seemed all that broken up over it, after all, just confused and disoriented like he didn’t understand he’d taken on a new matesprit at all. You’ll probably never know, though, and you’ll never know what she was getting out of it, but you decide that you probably wouldn’t want to anyways.

When school comes back around, Mituna leads you across the street before taking off with Latula and Kurlos and you’re actually okay with seeing Mr. Vantas again.

“G99d m9rning, S9llux,” he greets you, and guides you a few steps inside, away from the door. “Karkat! Y9ur matesprit is here!”

“Would you like something to eat, Solicks?” Ms Leijon offers you from another corner of the small hive. Oh yeah, you’d take her over that Sea Dweller any day.

“No thanks,” you assure her and she makes a pleased miao at you.

“Pard9n me,” Kankri mumbles as he brushes past you to get to the door. He’s talking again, so that’s good. Relatively speaking, of course. You bet there’s a few people that would have done without that part. Karkat included. You don’t have to wait very long for Karkat to come down. It’s only been a couple days, but he’s not limping anymore. You’re sure he’s been properly taken care of by now, though.

He grabs your arm hastily but doesn’t get very far.

“Karkat,” Mr. Vantas says. You feel Karkat stiffen slightly. There's a guilty pause. “Ah. Have a g99d day.” It’s probably weird for Karkat to have his dad back. He doesn’t answer immediately.

“THANKS,” he finally says awkwardly. You can’t say that Karkat will ever forgive his dad, and you wouldn’t blame him if he doesn’t, but this doesn’t strike you as a major concern. Reap what you sow and humans words or something.

The two of you walk to school because you actually can without repercussions for once. Or rather, because you can without Karkat _thinking_ there will be any repercussions. You hold your cane under one arm while Karkat guides you by the other.

“Dad 2ay2 Mr2. Lalonde miight be able two do 2omethiing about my eye2iight,” you inform him absently. It’s not really something that bothers you too much, but you feel like the Lalonde’s feel bad about it. It obviously wasn’t their fault, but if they want to help you won’t say no.

“REALLY?”

“Iit’2 iimpo22iible to regaiin my full 2iight, but 2he 2aiid 2ome 2ciience 2tuff- bottom line; two d 2iight. Whiich ii2 diifferent from depth perceptiion, Ii gue22.”

“ARE YOU GOING TO LET HER?”

“Iif Ms Lalonde thiink2 iit’2 2afe. Yeah.”

“HNN.”

“Ii doubt 2he could make iit any wor2e. Unle22 you have 2ome 2ort of bliind fetii2h?”

“I DO NOT, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE.”

“Ii’m ju2t 2ayiing. There wa2 TZ. Let’2 not forget our 2uper 2weet 2peciial fiir2t.”

“COINCIDENCES.”

“2ure, KK.”

“I’M GOING TO LEAVE YOU IN THE STREET.”

He, of course, doesn’t leave you in the street. You arrive at the school and basically fumble into the first group of people ready to converse with either of you. Like usual, this is turns out to be John. He does, in fact, smell blue. You’re just going to assume that’s because he smells like what you would typically associate with blue. You have no idea why.

“oh karkat! come here!” he says excitedly. “dave got his tongue pierced last night! look! show him dave!”

Karkat makes a noise that alerts everyone within a five foot radius that he is totally not cool with whatever just happened. Dave probably showed him his tongue. You’re kind of curious now.

“GROSS. PUT THAT AWAY,” he snaps.

“you wouldn’t be saying that if they were on your bulge”

“Watch iit 2triider,” you cut in smoothly.

“you know what they say two’s a party but three’s an orgy”

“Actually, I think orgies are usually four or more and something about socks,” Rose corrects him.

“i’ll bring the juggalo socks pending”

“That wa2 2o funny, Ii thiink Ii almo2t 2hiit my2elf Dave,” you assure him with as much lackluster as you could possibly contain. You can contain a lot of it.

“ARE WE ALL JUST GOING TO PRETEND NONE OF YOU WERE AT MY HOUSE THE OTHER NIGHT?” Karkat says suddenly. No one says anything. “RIGHT. I JUST IMAGINED THE WHOLE THING IS WHAT YOU ALL WANT ME TO BELIEVE?” Everybody continues to say nothing. “JUST MAKING SURE.”

And no one ever spoke about her again.

“don’t knock it till you try it hey sol you should get those wicked things in your mouth pierced that would be cool one blue one red”

“NO.”

“Ii’l get miine piierced iif you get your2 2pliit.”

“you drive a hard bargain”

“NO. DON'T DO THAT.”

So things were normal. You know, as normal as things ever get around here. Which isn’t actually normal at all, but whatever. You’re happy. Karkat’s happy. What more do you want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. I take requests [and questions] at godcomplexdisorder.tumblr.com. I hope you enjoyed!


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